SeerKing's Asylum for Plot Bunnies That Won't Stop Bugging Me
by SeerKing
Summary: When you have Plot Bunnies that simply will not go away, what do you do? Write a chapter and bung them here. If anyone wants to adopt a story from this archive, just PM me. Unless specifically mentioned, these are all crossovers with Worm. If you want second chapters of any story, PM me.
1. Spider Taylor

"Whooo!" I yelled in half-terrified, half-exultant joy as I swung from building to building via my webline. Being locked in the locker had been one of the worst experiences of my life, yet it had given me these super awesome powers.

Sophia would be so pissed that she had, in a very roundabout way, done me a favour by torturing me for fifteen months. Ditto for Emma and Madison.

Extending my other arm, I used my two middle fingers and tapped twice on the pressure sensor on my palm, triggering my web-shooter. It fired a line of web fluid that attached to the building I was aiming at. Letting go of the one I had swung on until this moment, I started to swing on my new one.

From what I had discovered since my powers woke up, I have Brute, Tinker, Mover and Thinker powers, quite the collection. I invented my web-shooters, web-fluid and even a fancy polymer cloth. I'd kinda had to invent that last one because I could stick to walls using any part of my body. The downside was that any regular cloth –synthetic or organic- got stuck to my skin as well and wouldn't let go for at least ten minutes, which was a bummer.

Still, I got in contact with Parian, a Rogue Cape and worked out a deal for her making my costume, so it wasn't too bad. As repayment for her making my cloth and making it into a costume for me, I became her in-city courier.

Glancing down at my costume, I had to grin underneath my full face mask. It was mostly blue, with my feet, hands, central chest, shoulders and head coloured red with black web-like lines on it.

Landing on the roof of a building, I cocked my head as my slightly-enhanced hearing picked up a guttural voice shouting at someone. Creeping along the roof, I peeked over the side of the roof and silently cursed. Standing amidst a group of the Azn Bad Boyz was a figure that no one in Brockton Bay could mistake; Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu.

"-don't care if they're kids, just shoot them!" he was saying, "If you see that little bitch down, shoot her again just to be certain!"

Whoa! He was going to kill kids?! So not happening, not on my watch!

Hurriedly, I pulled the torso-section of my costume up to reveal my utility belt. I refilled my web-shooters with fresh cartridges before smoothing my costume out again. I knew I had to be careful when up against the likes of Lung. He had fought Leviathan the Endbringer to a standstill and had beaten down the entire Protectorate when he arrived. Underestimating him would be stupid.

Sticking to the wall, I crawled around until I was above two goons. I zipped down, wrapped them in webbing and leapt back into the shadows before any of the other gangbangers realised what had happened.

"What the fuck happened here?!" Lung roared, his metal mask not dampening his bellow in the slightest.

There is…one aspect of my powers that I don't like. It isn't a serious problem, but it is…aggravating.

"Well now, isn't this quite the gathering?" I said obnoxiously, "I hate to barge in on a private party, but you guys are setting off the ugly-meter, so I decided to gatecrash you."

This…is what I was talking about. For whatever reason, when I am in my costume and _only_ when I am in my costume, my personality shifts and I talk smack and act irrelevant. It does act as a good cover for me, but it's _really_ embarrassing.

"Find whoever it is and kill 'em!" Lung ordered his men.

I took the time to examine them. All of the twenty or so remaining goons had some kind of melee weapon; crowbar, knife, metal pipe, a cosh. None of them from what I could see had a gun. One thing I didn't have to worry about.

Leaping from the building, I kicked one man in the jaw, holding my strength back otherwise I'd kill him, before moving on to lay out another with a single punch. Suddenly, my senses went haywire and I ducked down, the steel pipe narrowly missing my head.

This was what led me to believe I had Thinker abilities. I had some kind of danger-sensing precognition when I was under attack. It was very useful, but made me feel as if I had pins and needles all over my head every time. As my webbing that I had developed was like a spider's web, I had dubbed it my 'spider-sense,' although it does sound a little corny.

I lashed out with a spinning low kick than sent the thug smashing to the ground, then bounced over to slam two other guys' heads together. I even webbed them together.

My 'spider sense' shrieked at me and I leapt acrobatically into the air, dodging the streetlight that Lung had ripped out of the ground to attack me with. Seriously, who just rips huge metal posts out of the ground?!

"Whew! That was close!" I said theatrically as I landed on the wall, "Sadly for you, close is not good enough, chief."

"'m gonna 'ill 'ou!" the man growled, his flesh shifting as he started to transform. Man, he must be really pissed if he was transforming without me landing a single punch yet!

"Uh-huh, sure you will." I shot back as his mask fell off, his face distorted by his transformation, "Let me know when you're actually going to do more than shake your walking stick at me, old-timer."

With a roar, the villain opened his mouth and breathed fire at me! I ran around behind him across the walls and webbed his feet to the ground before leaping on top of his shoulders and striking him once, twice, thrice! All three punches landed right on his nose; the second one breaking it and the third turning it into pulp.

My spider sense going off again allowed me to leap back just in time to avoid the streetlamp again. On the humorous side, watching Lung brain himself with it was very satisfying.

"You know, if you hate yourself to the point of attacking yourself, you should really go to counselling." I called mockingly as he swayed in place, slightly stunned from the impact of his own blow. I used the time he was woozy to wrap up a couple more of his ten-a-penny punks in webbing and toss them to the side.

When he shook himself out of his daze, he tried to spin around to face me, only to trip and faceplant from the webbing around his feet, which was worth a chuckle. I webbed him down, just to give me a bit more time, and proceeded to wipe the floor with the rest of the gangbangers.

Absolutely furious beyond everything, Lung ripped himself free from the webs (Note to self: increase web strength for Brute-type Capes) and burned the rest from his body (second note to self: create web fluid that is resistant to or immune to fire) before charging at me like a bull in a china shop. His newly-grown tail lashed and writhed behind him and I thought I could see scales decorating his body.

"Olé!" I mocked him as I leaped over him and kicked the back of his head with everything I had, sending him flying into the wall with a meaty crunch. As he went through the wall, I spun in mid-air and landed facing the hole, which was in the side of a warehouse, I belatedly noticed.

Oh well. If it was abandoned or derelict, there was no problem. If it wasn't…well, the owner had better have Cape insurance.

My spider sense went mad and I ducked down to the ground just in time to avoid what looked like a long piece of scaffolding being used as an ersatz javelin. Several more sailed through the air and I realised he had anticipated me being acrobatic as I had been all the other times I had evaded him.

Luckily for me, I make patterns and break them all the time.

Lung stomped out of the hole he had made, another length of scaffolding in one of his beefy hands. He glared at me…either that or transforming always made his face look like a glare.

"Just so you know, your aim sucks." I informed him casually as I hopped to my feet again, "Care to try again?"

He bellowed something unintelligible as he hefted the piece of metal. I quickly webbed his hand to it so that he couldn't let it go just as he was about to release it and it took him off-guard long enough to attach two web lines to him and tug them very hard so I flew through the air and slammed into his chest feet first, sending the gang boss flying without wings yet again.

It did hurt like a sonofabitch though. Thankfully, I have greater than normal strength and a slight healing factor, so I'd be as right as rain in a moment.

As the man nicknamed the Rage Dragon slammed through the hole he had made before, his increased size widened the hole somewhat. This, I knew, wasn't good. The longer this fight went on, the worse of a disadvantage I'd be at. I had to knock the bastard out and fast.

I pulled several lumps of debris over to near where I stood and waited for Lung to emerge again. There was no way I would be lucky enough to have the bastard KO'd by that last trick.

[Whoosh!]

I ducked under the flames that erupted from the hole in the wall just in time and I still felt the searing heat from the fire. OW!

"Try again, old man!" I mocked as I stood up again, "Though your aim seems to be way off. Failing eyesight? Or are you just going senile?"

Another roar came from the rage dragon as he charged out of the warehouse. I had to admire his persistence, if not his methods. This was why anger sucks to e used as a power source. It might increase how strong you are, but it also makes you easy to manipulate.

I grab two web lines and leap into the air, swinging the large concrete, mortar and brick lumps at the other ends right on top of a very surprised Lung's head. They smashed into pieces afterwards, but I just grabbed more that I had prepared in advance.

"Why-" **smash** "-won't-" **smash** "-you-" **smash** "-just-" **smash** "-get knocked out already?!" I snarled as I pummelled him with masonry.

He just roared again. Man, this guy just did not _get_ the whole 'witty exchange of repartee' section of hero/villain combat.

By this point, Lung was almost ten feet tall, wings extended, tail lashing and draconic features fully displayed. Just how powerful was this dragon's regeneration factor? He's been pummelled by rocks, sent flying through solid concrete and brick and he even hit himself with a goddamn streetlight. What does it take to put him down?

"You know, girls don't like persistent men, old man." I warned him as I grabbed my last pair of ersatz weapons, "How about you just shuffle off and sit in a rocking chair, geezer?"

Yet another roar. Jeez, would something other than that kill him? I sighed as he yet again did a bum rush towards me, arms swinging. What a one trick pony. Without his regeneration, he'd be…well, he'd still be a bitch to fight, but not nearly as much of a pain as he was right now.

Once again I leapt into the air, neatly dodging Lung's flailing arms and rather accurately webbing up his eyes while I was at it. As he screeched to a halt to try and rip the webbing off, I dodged his wings and tail, grabbing the latter appendage as I landed and heaved with all of my strength.

Lung was jerked into the air and then met the ground with a bang as I swung him. It actually reminded me of that kid from the Flintstones...Bam-Bam…smashing things onto the ground then onto the ground on his other side.

I repeated this a couple of times before throwing him away. As he sailed through the air, I heard a whistle and a gruff female voice order, "Maim!"

From out of the night three enormous…creatures…bounded out of the twilight and leapt on Lung, ripping at him with fangs and claws. Each of them was huge, the size of a small rhino, with bony protrusions jutting out of their bodies.

"Either those are mutated pygmy rhinos or they're mutated giant dogs." I said in amusement.

"The latter." An equally amused voice said from behind me. I leapt in surprise and whirled around to see…

"…a power ranger?" I blurted out.

The girl who had spoken was literally dressed up like a power ranger. A black and purple bodysuit with a golden Egyptian hieroglyph in the centre of her chest and wearing a domino mask on her face. Behind her was a tall man wearing biker leathers, a motorcycle helmet and a mask underneath it and another guy dressed up like he was going to a renaissance fair in a weird shirt and a tragedy mask.

Over by Lung-the-dragon-chew toy, I saw a heavyset girl in rough clothes and a cheap plastic dog mask on her face.

"I get that all the time." Power-ranger girl smirked, "The name's Tattletale."

"Ok…thanks for jumping in then, Tattletale." I said with a sigh as I collapsed to the ground, adrenaline wearing off.

"Considering Lung's original target was us, it's nothing to be concerned about." Tattletale replied with a fox-like grin, "We drove off Oni-Lee and some ABB thugs, but we had no clue what to do with Lung. You really kicked his ass, you know?"

I chuckled hollowly. "I barely put a dent in him. The bastard just wouldn't stay down!"

"You did better than most Capes have done against the Dragon of Kyushu." The motorbike helmeted guy pointed out, "I'm Grue, the beanpole here is Regent-"

"Fuck you, Grue." Regent put in lazily.

"-and the girl with the dogs is Bitch." Grue finished.

I shakily stood up and fingered the spider symbol on my chest. "Just call me…Arachne."

 **So yeah...Just an idea that was bombarding my mind.**

 **Tinker: 4 - (Chemical, minor mechanisms) (Web Shooters, Web Fluid, Utility Belt, Spider Tracers)**

 **Brute: 4 – (Proportionate strength of a spider, tough enough to withstand powerful blows with only minor damage, small healing factor)**

 **Thinker: 3 – (Spider Sense, Advanced Kinaesthesia)**

 **Mover: 4 – (Wall Crawling, Superhuman Agility and Acrobatics, Web Slinging)**


	2. Mantra Enchantment

A lone figure stood upon the top of the warehouse. The figure was female and wore form concealing black and gold trousers and top and her feet and hands were covered in a shiny metal that almost looked like bronze or tin. A half mask shaped like a bird's beak covered her face and her long black hair was tied into a topknot.

Just by looking at her, a regular person would know not to mess with her. She had a defined musculature that screamed that she did serious working out. The fact that she also had a ring floating behind her would also be a dead giveaway that she was a Cape.

The lone figure looked down at the thugs swarming beneath her as they prepared to fight at their master's command. Lips tightening in distaste, the figure looked at the man sitting indolently on a throne-like chair at the entrance to a nearby house. He was a large man and wore a metal mask that resembled a dragon. Lung.

The Dragon of Kyushu reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a phone as she watched. He spoke to someone on the other end for a moment before hanging up and standing. He then started making a big speech about some people, the Undersiders, having robbed him, so they were going to kill them, regardless of the fact that they were teenagers.

The female figure almost growled in anger at that, but calmed down and stepped forward, plummeting feet first to the ground and landing lightly, without so much as ruffling her clothing.

"I am afraid," she spoke loudly, but solemnly, "that I cannot permit you to carry those plans out, Lung."

Lung looked her up and down from his throne and snorted dismissively. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Call me…Mantra." The woman replied softly, "Now, I would ask you to surrender, but that would be a waste of breath. I would ask that you clear the small fry from the line of fire. Wasting my time with them would be…irksome."

This, naturally, seemed to upset the regular members of the Azn Bad Boyz. They started walking towards Mantra with purpose in their steps. The female sighed and shook her head before lowering her head and charging.

In a blur, she dealt disabling punches to several gangbangers that sent them collapsing to the ground insensate. When on lashed out with a pipe, it snapped in half upon making contact with her skin.

Swiftly KOing the other Boyz, Mantra turned to Lung and crossed her arms expectantly. The Dragon of Kyushu sighed.

"Do you really think you stand a chance against me?" he asked as he slowly stood up, "I fought an Endbringer; I fought _Leviathan_ , to a standstill! I singlehandedly beat down the entire Brockton Bay Protectorate when I arrived here in this shithole of a city! What possible chance do you think you could have?"

"Y'know…you talk too much." Mantra said. She swiped her arm horizontally at the arrogant Cape, unleashing a blast of wind that sent him tumbling over his 'throne,' which then landed on top of him.

With a roar of fury, Lung threw the chair away, already growing as his rage fed the transformation.

"Ah yes…Lung the Rage Dragon." Mantra smiled coldly, "Let us see how your Wrath fares against my Melancholy."

She took a martial arts stance and waited for her opponent to come to her. As she expected, Lung charged in to attack with a punch that might as well have been telegraphed. With a simple step, Mantra avoided it, grabbed the ABB leader's arm and threw him into the air, swiftly leaping up in pursuit of him.

Channelling energy to her leg until it glowed blue, the Cape smashed it into Lung, snapping several ribs by the sound of it and sending the gang leader careening into a nearby warehouse.

Landing lithely on her feet, Mantra rolled her shoulders as she waited for Lung to re-emerge. She didn't have to wait long.

The enraged Parahuman smashed through the wall with a roar of fury. Flames coiled around his hands and he was even bigger than before. The metal mask that had covered his face had cracked, showing Lung's face twisted into a vicious snarl, even as scales formed on it as the dragon transformation overtook his body.

An image of a figure screaming its rage to the heavens, four large arms seemingly made of molten metal emerging from its back, flashed through Mantra's mind and she smirked. Compared to _that_ monster, Lung's rage was a mere child's temper tantrum.

Loading her arms with energy, Mantra counter-charged Lung. She struck him across the chest, from left shoulder to right hip, leaving a white line of energy. Faster than Lung could react, the cape then struck from Lung's left hip to his right shoulder, leaving another white line before finally striking horizontally and unleashing all the pent-up energy of the two previous attacks at once.

With a flash of white light and an explosion of energy, Lung was sent flying back into the warehouse, blood streaming from the three cuts to his chest. Mantra glanced down at the back of her left hand and saw that the sunburst symbol was almost full.

' _One more proper attack and I'll be ready to take care of Lung._ ' she thought.

The girl known as Taylor Hebert, currently in the body of Mantra, mused that this was the one thing she disliked about her powers. While her skills were very impressive and the fact she was a Changer that even Changed her clothes when she transformed meant she didn't have to worry about making a costume aside from a mask and hat, she was almost permanently on a third of her actual power.

It had been lower than that the first time, but training and fighting had improved it. To access her full power, she had to fight for a while, until the sunburst symbol glowed white with energy. Then she entered what she felt compelled to call 'Burst Mode,' when she had access to all of her potential needed for the situation.

Burst Mode wasn't something she wanted to use often, as it was exhausting to recover from using even a single time once she reverted to her real body. Last time she had stopped a truck from running made with a dead man at the wheel. The result afterwards had been her sleeping for almost fourteen hours and her Dad panicking like a loon.

Still, Lung was so powerful that she couldn't risk underestimating him or pulling her punches, short of killing him anyway. His boasts were not idle.

When Lung ripped his way through the wall again, he had his wings deployed and his tail lashing behind him. The Rage Dragon was almost fully draconic now, with armoured scales covering his body, which was now ten feet high. His eyes were glaring murderously at Mantra as fire spilled from his mouth and in a corona around his talon-tipped hands.

"'onna 'ill 'ou, mu'f'k'r!" he grunted out in horribly mangled English.

"Take a ticket and stand in line." She replied contemptuously, "There are plenty standing ahead of you."

' _Like the entire population of Winslow._ ' Mantra thought wryly.

Before Lung could even move, Mantra was in motion, a blue streak of light following her as she sped by the ABB leader several times, landing powerful punches on him before on final blow sent him sprawling to the ground, stunned.

"'ill…'ou…!" he slurred as he staggered to his feet.

"So you've said." She replied dryly, "But now, I fear, it is time to finish this."

The ring floating behind her glowed with power as it lifted her up and with a cry, a blue aura exploded from her body, while the sunburst on her left hand blazed like a real sun with light.

In a flash, Mantra stood in front of Lung, her right arm loaded with power and cocked back to strike.

"Say goodnight." She hissed.

With a bang as loud as a cannon going off, Lung was sent flying faster than a bullet in the general direction of the Bay, crashing unrestrictedly through walls and buildings as if they were made of paper.

Mantra looked at her fist and said, "Err…oops. Doubt that killed him, but…I'll just leave now."

With that, she levitated off the ground and flew away hastily, leaving behind a bunch of semi-comatose gangers, who swore to themselves to never piss off the heroine called Mantra unless they wanted to be punted into the Bay.

 **Eventually, Taylor would gain forms equivalent to those of Asura, Mithra and the Seven Deities as well. She just got Yasha's first.**

 **Thinker: 10 – (Able to sense and draw power from the emotional states of Wrath, Melancholy, Pride, Lust, Vanity, Greed, Sloth, Violence and Hope. Range is approximately half of the planet at maximum.)**

 **Changer: 8 – (Able to assume various forms based upon the amount of emotional energy or mantra that she has available.)**

 **Brute: 7 – (Able to strike blows strong enough to crush a building and endure the same.)**

 **Blaster: 6 – (In many forms, able to fire energy blasts or projectiles)**

 **Mover: 5 – (Able to fly at ludicrous speeds, perform death-defying acrobatics and other feats of agility and run faster than a speeding bullet.)**

 **Trump: 7 – (In the Changer Form of Hope, able to empower the abilities of other Capes, but only if she knows their faces. The closer the relationship to Mantra, the more power they receive.)**


	3. Trapped Again (SAO-Overlord)

**Chapter 1: At the End to a New Beginning**

In the aftermath of the Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online incidents, numerous corporations made use of Kayaba Akihiko's [World Seed] Program in order to create various VR-MMORPG games.

Yet some, rightly, mistrusted the intentions of the man who had trapped ten thousand people in a Death Game for over two years. Thus, those companies who rivalled the companies that had used the [NerveGear] and [AmuSphere] VR headsets decided to branch out and created their own worlds and technology that was based on, but different than, the two headsets.

The most successful rival company created a game called 'YGGDRASIL' and classed it as a DMMO-RPG (Diving Massively Multiplayer Online - Role Playing Game) so as to set it apart from the VRMMO - RPG's.

YGGDRASIL required its own bed-shaped console in order to play it. While expensive, every player said the expense was worth it. Due to the incredibly wide-range of customisation available, for characters, bases and items, the game was immensely popular.

There were three categories of player avatars in YGGDRASIL. The Human Races (Humans, Dwarves and Elves), the Demi-Human Races (Ogres, Goblins, beastmen, mermaids and the like) and the Heteromorphic Races (Slimes, Vampires, Liches and the like).

Heteromorphic races were largely unpopular due to the racial restriction on equipment and skills they possessed. For example, Slimes cannot equip weapons or armour, only accessories. In addition, Human and Demi-Human races received no penalty for Pking any heteromorphic player. Of course, the reverse was true as well, leading to a PK war between the heteromorphic races and the far more populous Human and Demi-Human races.

It was this world that the former Sword Art Online Task Force turned its eyes to when players simply…vanished…over the game's twelve years of operation. It was into this world of violence and discrimination that Kirigaya Kazuto, the former Black Swordsman of SAO, and his friends descended at the request of the SAO Task Force. And it is this world that is coming, finally, to an end.

 **KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

 _Ten Minutes Before the YGGDRASIL Server Shuts Down_

 _Conference Room, 10_ _th_ _Floor (Ruby Palace), Flying Fortress of Aincrad, Midgard, Yggdrasil_

"Man, I can't believe we've been coming here for two years!" a lizardman with red scales and dressed in samurai-esque clothes said from his seat, "And we haven't found ANYTHING suspicious to do with the guilds that just vanished!"

"Klein, it isn't like we haven't tried." a female Cyclops pointed out, "The first group, the [Six Paladins] guild vanished years ago. Same for the [Gluttony] guild. The most recent disappearances were that two person guild…what was their name?"

"[Janus], Liz." a vampiress said quietly. With silvery hair, a red and white set of armour and a rapier at her side, the former Sub-Commander of the Knights of Blood looked almost exactly the same as she did in Aincrad, albeit with ruby reptilian eyes, alabaster skin and silver hair.

"Ah, thought it was something like that. Thanks Asuna." Liz nodded, "Yeah, them. They just up and vanished. The only anomaly is the fact that [Gluttony's] Guild HQ vanished. An entire floating castle, just poofed out of existence."

"Ano…could it have been deleted?" a werecat asked shyly.

A busty Succubus shook her head. "Onii-chan went over the code himself, Silica-chan. Nothing was deleted, corrupted or anything like that. It was just…gone. Removed so cleanly, he couldn't tell that anything had ever even _been there_ to begin with."

"Way to bring people down, Leafa-chan." Klein grumbled.

"It's Kiriha in YGGDRASIL, baka!" the woman huffed and sent an unhappy smiley at him in lieu of being able to make a facial expression.

"Can ya keep it down?" a tall Dark Elf asked with a frown, "I'm trying to finish my assignment here before the Server shuts down."

"Sorry, Sinon." Silica apologised.

The doors to the room opened and a large ogre tromped into the room.

"Hey Agil!" Klein called, "Where's Kirito?"

"He's having a last talk with the Guildmaster of [Ains Ooal Gown]." Agil replied as he assumed his seat, "Yui-chan'll have him back here via a [Gate] in no time flat."

"Then [The Band of the Black Sword] will be all assembled!" a weremouse cackled.

"Argo, you really need to come up with a better name for us." a voice complained. The occupants of the table turned to see a purple portal appear and a Fallen Angel step out of it, followed by a floating pixie.

"Mama!" the little Fae squealed and fluttered over to land on Asuna's shoulder.

"Hey there Yui-chan." the voice of Asuna said lovingly to her AI daughter.

Kirito took his seat at the 'head' of the table, for all that it was round. It was the marble seat with a large ebon sword embedded in the top of it. That weapon was the Guild Weapon of [The Band of the Black Sword], the [Black Sword] itself.

"I confirmed with Momonga-san that precious few of his guild have logged in in the past couple of years." he started without preamble, "He's been too busy hunting monsters to have anything to do with vanishing anybody."

"Great, so we're back at square one." Kiriha grumbled as she crossed her legs.

"We have eliminated several possible causes, from possible kidnappers to some sort of Pking method." Kirito pointed out, "What we have left may be more questions than we started out with, but it isn't any of our faults. The people who disappeared, both from YGGDRASIL and from the real world…are just gone."

"Anyway, it isn't like it's going to happen again." Agil added, "The server for YGGDRASIL is shutting down today, so no one else is gonna be disappearing."

Liz reached over and smacked him on the forearm, the highest she could reach on the Ogre. A '0' floated in the air to indicate that the large merchant hadn't lost any HP.

"What?"

"You never say that something isn't going to happen!" Liz hissed, "You're just begging for it to happen!"

"Narrative causality only happens in anime and manga!" Agil retorted.

"There's no point tempting fate." Liz argued.

"OK you two, calm it." Kirito ordered, "There's only a few minutes to go, so less arguing."

"Gotcha, Kirito." Liz grumbled.

Agil just nodded.

"It's just a shame that we're losing everything we built here." Asuna sighed, "I mean, it isn't as nice as our cottage, Kirito-kun, but still…"

"I know, Asuna." Kirito sighed, "Still, there isn't anything we can do about it. They designed YGGDRASIL's code to be deliberately incompatible with VR-MMO-RPG's, so I can't just copy and paste it."

"Should we go out and enjoy the fireworks?" Argo asked.

"Nah. We're good here." Liz said dismissively, "'sides, I wouldn't put it past some of the Human and Demi-Human players to try and make us the last PK victims of YGGDRASIL 'for old time's sake' or some such nonsense."

This earned her sage nods from the rest of the table.

"Well, we can at least go to the balcony." Klein pointed out.

This met with approval from the rest of the group and they rose to head there, chatting all the while. Kirito paused and grabbed the Guild Weapon from the back of his seat.

"Might as well give it one final outing." he said to the curious look he was drawing from Kiriha and Argo.

"Fair enough." his little sister/cousin said with a nod. She knew how much he liked swords; especially this one since he had designed and made it all by himself.

"Asuna'll get jealous if you keep cheating on her with your sword, Ki-bou." Argo teased him as flames flickering at her wrists and ankles. Argo was a weremouse, but also a rare class of weremouse called a Hinezumi, a fire rat. She could control fire and was partially immune to most fire-based attacks.

"Shush it." Kirito grumbled, his twelve black wings flexing in annoyance as he sheathed the sword at his side.

The ten members of [The Band of the Black Sword] strode across to the open balcony on one side of the room. Stretched out before them was the beautiful scenery of Midgard, one of the Nine Worlds of the game of YGGDRASIL. Even Kirito had to admit that it was a beautifully programmed environment.

Asuna glided next to him and took his hand, while Yui alighted on Kirito's other shoulder. Kirito felt content. Things with Asuna's mother were still tense, even after she accepted that Asuna did indeed love him and wouldn't settle for anyone else. Still, her father was supportive, which was something.

"We'd better head to bed as soon as the server goes down." he remarked aloud, "Kikuoka-san will be wanting us to give our final reports bright and early tomorrow."

"He's so annoying." Argo pouted. Silica nodded in agreement.

"He's so pushy for details and intense." the Dragon Tamer moaned.

"I'll have a word with him." Kirito promised with a frown. He was very protective of his friends and had warned Kikuoka Seijirō not to push them. Evidently, the bespectacled man needed a reminder of that.

"Less than a minute to go." Sinon announced.

"It was a good place while it lasted." Liz sighed, her single eye staring out across the landscape. The unblinking eye of a cyclops could act like either a telescope or a microscope, the perfect tool for a blacksmith. Kirito supposed that she was focussed on something in the distance.

"That is was." Agil rumbled as he leaned on the balcony.

"Papa…something's happening!" Yui said urgently, "The data in the area around the castle is becoming corrupted at a rapid pace! Not just us either, the same is happening to the [Great Tomb of Nazarick]!"

Looking alarmed, Kirito looked around and spotted the signs of corruption in the sky around the large floating castle that was the New Aincrad in YGGDRASIL.

"Everyone! Log Out, now!" he ordered frantically, "Log-"

He never finished his order as he, his friends and the entire castle were engulfed in white light.


	4. Plant Growth

Miss Militia stood next to Armsmaster as they gazed at the enormous amount of greenery that had engulfed Winslow High School. It was really quite intimidating how the manmade building had been overtaken by numerous trees, vines, bushes and grass.

"A new Trigger, do you think?" she asked the leader of the NWN Protectorate.

"Either that or some Tinker has developed a bomb to create explosive plant growth." The armoured hero replied in perfect deadpan.

The female hero raised an eyebrow at that. Armsmaster was infamous for his lack of social skill and he had just made a joke, of all things.

"New filter." He explained at her expression.

Ah. _Now_ it made sense.

"Dragon has used some satellites that the Simurgh hasn't destroyed to scan the location." Armsmaster stated, "The results…are inconclusive. The thickness of the foliage and the remains of the school building are somehow blurring the sensors. She can't see into that place to tell us if Shadow Stalker is still alive or not."

Miss Militia's mouth thinned into a line beneath the American flag bandana that covered her lower face. Winslow had had one of the Wards, Shadow Stalker, attending when this (whatever this was) had happened earlier on today. Just before the end of school, the entire school building had been engulfed in plants, with the students only having just enough time to flee ahead of the encroaching vegetation.

Except for Sophia Hess, otherwise known as Shadow Stalker.

With the Breaker ability to phase into a shadow-like intangible form, there should be no question about Shadow Stalker being able to flee…unless something or someone was preventing her from doing so.

"Has there been any expansion in diameter since the initial outbreak?" she asked him.

"Negative." The Tinker replied, "The outermost building, the gymnasium, was covered half an hour after the initial explosion of greenery. After that, the plant life settled in to fortify itself, possibly against attack."

"You think the one behind this is a Chlorokinetic." Hannah stated, "A plant manipulator."

"It almost has to be." Armsmaster retorted, "Either that or a Biotinker/Biokinetic on the same level as Panacea, Bonesaw or Blasto. As I am hoping that we don't have to worry about someone on that level, I'm going with Chlorokinesis."

Miss Militia frowned. The healer Panacea of the New Wave movement was the world's premiere healer, able to heal everything barring the brain itself. Bonesaw and Blasto were Biotinkers, able to twist and mould any biology to their pleasing within their specialities. She could see why he was hoping for a plant-user.

"What's the plan?" she asked.

"The PRT troops will hold position on the perimeter and await the delivery of the industrial-grade weed killer that I ordered in." the armoured Cape replied, "In the meantime, you and I shall enter the school and attempt to locate Ground Zero and Shadow Stalker. The rest of the Protectorate will be on standby, ready to move to reinforce or extract us as required."

"Roger that." The heroine nodded. She reached out and a gun appeared in it. Letting off a silvery glow and seeming to vibrate even as she held it, the gun was similar to but not the same as a Magnum Research BFR. Armsmaster drew and extended his halberd at roughly the same time.

The two Parahumans cautiously picked their way through the outermost defences of the wall of greenery, careful to avoid cutting or destroying the plant life. Chlorokinesis was an uncommon power, but the last person to have possessed it, the Green Giant in England, could feel the death of any plants within his range, which had driven him half insane.

He had had to be put down as he reacted violently to a farmer cutting down a field of wheat. It had taken all of the SW England Protectorate to kill him and he had ruined a considerable amount of farmland in the fight. Neither Armsmaster nor Miss Militia had any desire for that to happen in the middle of Brockton Bay.

As they reached the shattered main entrance, Armsmaster waved her to a halt as vines burst from the ground and walls to form a complex latticework gate barring entry to the school.

"What now?" Miss Militia asked in a low voice.

Armsmaster stepped forward and raised his halberd.

"This is Armsmaster of the Brockton Bay Protectorate with Miss Militia!" he announced, "Allow us entry."

After a tense moment, the vines retracted just enough to allow them to enter one at a time. As they squeezed through, Hannah muttered to Armsmaster, "Well that proves that this is definitely a Chlorokinetic. No Biokinetic could manipulate plant life of _this_ number and complexity so easily."

Armsmaster nodded.

According to the reports, Miss Militia recalled, the plants had first appeared somewhere on the third floor, although it was unknown if the building was even separated into floors anymore with the sheen amount of plant life covering the interior and exterior of the building. She was surprised it hadn't collapsed.

"The stairs should be this way." Armsmaster pointed to his left with his weapon, "Keep alert; there's no telling how long the controller will hold off on attacking us."

"If they were going to attack, we would have been attacked before now." Hannah demurred, "I'd lay a year's pay that this is a fresh Trigger we're dealing with here; he or she has no idea how to fully control their powers. Let me talk; you know how you are with this kind of situation."

The Tinker grumbled, but nodded in acceptance even as he led the way.

The corridors were covered from floor to ceiling with roots, vines, moss and various other kinds of plant life. Hannah recognised some from all over the world; tropical, desert and even a few artic plants.

"Do they just create the plants out of nothing?" she wondered aloud as she ascended the steps, "The variety seems to suggest so!"

"If the person behind this can be convinced to turn to agriculture, we could solve some major food shortages." Armsmaster mused.

"MMMMPPPHH!" a muffled yell drew the attention of the two leaders of the Protectorate to a nearby wall, where Sophia Hess was strung up. She was held to the wall by several thick vines wrapped around her waist, wrists, ankles and neck and she also had a ball-gag made out of plants shoved into her mouth, forcing her jaws wide open to their limit.

"Shit. Looks like the perpetrator went after her specifically." Armsmaster rumbled, his grip on his weapon tightening, "Why hasn't she…ah. Those vines have an active, albeit minor, electrical current running through them somehow."

"How?" Miss Militia asked, stunned, "No plant can use electricity!"

"But every animal has bioelectricity in the form of an active nervous system." The Tinker countered, "Some animals, such as the electric eel and electric ray, even harness bioelectricity as a weapon. The question is, how did our unknown perpetrator know that her Breaker form is vulnerable to electric currents?"

"We can find out later; for now, we should get her out of here." Miss Militia said grimly. She shifted her weapon into the form of a knife with a rubber hilt and approached Sophia, who looked relieved at the chance to finally get cut down.

In short order, the Ward was spitting out the gag and cursing up a storm.

"Shadow Stalker, report." Armsmaster demanded.

"I dunno!" Sophia retorted waspishly.

"That's a lie." The Tinker observed, relying on his helmet-mounted lie-detector, "Let's try this again shall we? What. Happened. Here?"

The girl wilted at his tone. "Some girl was trapped in her locker and she Triggered." she replied sullenly, "One minute I was walking then next I was flat on the floor and plants were everywhere. I tried to get out and got trapped here. I escaped the first set of plants used to hold me but this lot caught me not long after. I've been trapped here since."

"A panic attack due to claustrophobia?" Miss Militia wondered with a wince. Phobias were a very common cause of Trigger Events, so it wouldn't surprise her.

"Lead us to where it happened." Armsmaster ordered the girl.

"Are you fucking nuts?!" Sophia yelped, "One, I'm not in my gear and Two, Heb-…this person known how to shut me down completely! No damn way am I going near her!"

"The first is easily solved." Armsmaster said, pulling a bundle of clothing from a section of his armour, followed by a mask. He tossed them at the stunned girl, "The second point is fair, but you'll have Miss Militia and myself with you. There will be no need to worry about being caught by plants, so get changed and lead us to the epicentre of this disaster."

Cowed by the glare she was receiving from the Protectorate Leader, Sophia changed into her costume and donned her spare mask, becoming Shadow Stalker and leading the two heroes through the school.

"If the Youth Guard catches wind of this…" Miss Militia muttered to her leader.

"This is an emergency situation, requiring extraordinary measures." Armsmaster countered, "The fact that Shadow Stalker was here in her civilian guise beforehand was a fortuitous coincidence that we took advantage of."

It disturbed Hannah somewhat when she realised he had either made that justification up on the spot or he had prepared an excuse for this sort of situation occurring at Winslow in advance.

As they reached the third floor, Miss Militia noticed that the plants had gotten much denser and populous. It also seemed to be moving slightly, even as they walked over it.

"The locker should be just around that corner." Shadow Stalker said at last, pointing to the nearby corner to her left, "Now I am out of here."

Miss Militia was about to stop her when Armsmaster shook his head slightly.

"The last thing we need when dealing with a traumatised new Parahuman is an acerbic and rude Ward." He said in an undertone as the former vigilante turned tail and fled as fast as she could.

Nodding, Hannah reformed her gun and carefully stepped around the corner with it raised and pointed forwards, Armsmaster at her side. What they saw made the two stop cold.

One locker was wide open, the door lying crumpled and broken on the floor. The smell coming from the contents made the heroes recoil in disgust. In the centre of the floor was an enormous red flower bud. It was glowing with an inner light and Hannah thought she could see a human figure, curled up into a ball, inside of it!

"Armsmaster…this is…!" she said in shock.

"Yes…we've found our Parahuman." He agreed, awe filling his voice, "What the hell is that smell?"

Miss Militia forced herself to peer into the locker before backing off, disgust in her voice as she reported, "Biological waste; old tampons, sanitary pads, used toilet paper, all left to rot and fresh vomit on top of it. Someone filled up this poor girl's locker with this stuff, probably for a few weeks, and then someone shut her in with it. This is disgusting, on more than one level!"

Armsmaster agreed. This was malicious bullying of the worst sort. If it was bad enough to cause the girl to Trigger, then he would happily arrest whoever was responsible for this for attempted manslaughter. With all that…filth in the locker, it would be a miracle if she hadn't caught an infection of some sort. She could have been killed.

"Why did Shadow Stalker not intervene?" he muttered as he used his helmet's sensors to probe the giant plant in front of him, "If she knew about her being locked in, why was she moving away from the locker and not helping her?"

Miss Militia suspected that Armsmaster already suspected the answer; that Shadow Stalker had deliberately ignored the girl's plight. This would earn her quite a talking to after this incident was resolved.

"It's blooming!" the Tinker said sharply.

Indeed. Slowly, ever so slowly, the petals of the flower were cracking open. Miss Militia changed her gun from a pistol to a semi-automatic combat shotgun, but kept it pointed at an angle away from the flower, but still close enough to bring it around to blast whoever or whatever emerged.

It took a couple of minutes, but the flower fully opened and, lying on her side in the centre, was a naked girl, still curled into a ball. Hannah estimated that if she stood up, she would be tall and willowy.

What made the two heroes sit up and take notice was the fact that the girl's skin was a light shade of green.

"A Case-53?" Miss Militia wondered, "No…she doesn't have the mark on her body."

She was referring to the mark that appeared somewhere on the bodies of the so-called 'monster capes.' It was a fancy version of the letter 'c' and showed up on all Case-53 Capes.

"We've only seen one side of her." Armsmaster countered.

"Yes, and she is naked!" Miss Militia hissed, "Turn around when she wakes up, damn it! The last thing we need is for her to freak out because a man old enough to be her father is looking at her!"

"I'm not _that_ old!" the Tinker grumbled, but turned away obediently when the girl started to stir.

"Miss? Can you hear me?" Hannah called softly as the girl groaned and started to prop herself up on one arm.

"Dwa…huh? Where…?" the girl asked as she shook her head groggily, the long brown hair shaking with her. Then she looked down and 'eep'd' rather cutely.

"Why am I naked?!" she yelped, covering her chest and groin with her hands "And why am I _green_?!"

"A good question." Miss Militia said, drawing the girl's attention. She was startled by the girl's eyes when she turned her head to face her. The girl's right eye was a luminous neon green that glowed eerily, while her left eye was a warm brown reminiscent of freshly turned earth.

"Miss…Militia?! And…Armsmaster?!" the girl squeaked in shock.

"Indeed. A pleasure to meet you, miss…?" Hannah said with a smile.

"He…Hebert…Taylor Hebert." The girl stammered.

Hannah's heart went out to the poor girl. She'd been bullied, locked in a locker with biological waste and Triggered on top of it all.

"Well then Miss Hebert, let's get you away from here and cleaned up, shall we?" she said softly.

Later

Conference Room, PRT Building, Brockton Bay

"A Biotinker?" Director Piggot asked flatly.

"Only partially." Armsmaster replied, "I would Rate her as a Master, Shaker, Breaker, Striker and Thinker, in addition to a Tinker rating."

"Explain." The obese woman ordered.

"She is a Shaker due to the fact that she can create her plants anywhere within fifty meters of herself, and multiples of them at that." Miss Militia stated, "We've tentatively rated her at Shaker 7, but with practice, she might extend her range and flexibility, so she might top out at Shaker 10."

"She's a Master because she can control any and all plant life around her, not just plants that she has created." Armsmaster continued, "Her range is approximately three square blocks. Again, her initial Rating is Master 6, but could increase to Master 8 or 9 with practice."

"Due to the medical Miss Hebert submitted to, it has been determined that when threatened, her body unconsciously enters into a Breaker state, one that transforms her body into something indicated by the shade of her skin, that of chlorophyll. She literally _turns into a plant_ , one that can regrow lost tissues and limbs even in seconds. It essentially makes her immune to conventional weapons, even flamethrowers. I doubt that even Panacea could do anything to her while her Breaker state is active." Miss Militia said, "We've assigned her a Rating of Breaker 5."

"A Changer Rating seems more appropriate." Piggot commented.

"She enters into this plant state for two reasons." Miss Militia disagreed, "First, to protect herself from harm. Secondly, to use _any_ of her other powers. Essentially, she has to consciously repress her powers in order to resume her normal appearance."

"Very well, continue." The other woman sighed, "Why a Striker rating?"

"It has been discovered that her nails secrete a powerful toxin when in her Breaker state." Armsmaster replied, "Limited testing has proven she can alter the makeup of this toxin from anything from a deadly neurotoxin to a mild sedative to a paralyzing agent. It earns her a Striker 5 Rating."

"She also has the ability to perceive what plants perceive; she can 'see' for a lack of a better term, through her plants, but she can only perceive temperature." Miss Militia continued, "Additionally, Miss Hebert instinctively knows the inner workings and mechanism of any plant that she has seen, even pictures or paintings of them. This earns her a Thinker 5 Rating."

"And the fact that she is a Biotinker?" Piggot asked quietly.

"She is a Tinker 5, limited to plant life." Armsmaster said smoothly, "She has no knowledge of human biology outside of her Highschool-level Biology classes and no desire to find out. She is not Blasto, Bonesaw or Nilbog."

"You're saying she has the same level of expertise with plants as _Hero_ had with wavelength manipulation?" Piggot's eyebrows shot up at this.

"Director, she took a houseplant away for twenty minutes and turned it into a Biotinker device that makes high-end painkillers as a thank you to the Wards for being so nice to her." Hannah said plainly, "Which I find extraordinary after she discovered who Shadow Stalker is."

Piggot's brow turned thunderous. "Yes. What have you found out there?"

"Shadow Stalker has not just broken her parole; she has murdered it, stomped on it, torn it to shreds and scattered it to the winds." Armsmaster said plainly, "She tortured Taylor Hebert and a few other students for over fifteen months, culminating in yesterday's locker incident. Miss Hebert's 'Bully Diary' only starts last September, but considering Shadow Stalker became a Ward less than four weeks after that, we have enough circumstantial evidence to justify kicking her from the Wards and into juvenile hall."

"From what I've read, she used her Breaker state to steal things from Miss Hebert's locker, such as her classwork and her deceased mother's flute, so she could destroy them." Miss Militia added.

"Throw the book at her." Piggot growled. She despised Parahumans, but hated them even more when they abused their abilities to hurt others, "As for Miss Hebert, is she open to the idea of joining the Wards?"

"Not after it was discovered that Shadow Stalker who bullied her and caused her to Trigger." Armsmaster shook his head, "I think she's going to ask New Wave if she can join them. Keeping a secret identity is going to be close to impossible for her thanks to her Breaker abilities."

"At least she's not going independent or villain." Piggot muttered, "OK, I want an improved oversight system on the Wards ASAP. We cannot allow something like Shadow Stalker to happen again. More to the point, HOW did she get away with what she did for so long?"

"Apparently, Principal Blackwell and Shadow Stalker's PRT monitor decided it was for the best if a Ward was kept on campus in case of gang activities getting out of hand." Miss Militia scowled, "They wrote Miss Hebert off as a necessary sacrifice to keep a Ward present."

"Whoever did that in my organisation is fired and I want the book thrown at them too." Piggot scowled again, "The local Board of Education has concluded that Winslow is not feasible to recover due to the…resistance of Miss Hebert's plants. They are looking for another property to refurbish so the students do not have to leave the bay, but it will take time."

She shuffled her notes for a moment before something occurred to her.

"Has Miss Hebert chosen a pseudonym to use or will we have to assign one to her?"

"She saw all the choices that the Wards gave her and didn't like them much." Miss Militia offered, "She chose to call herself…Avatar."

 **So yeah…in this one, Taylor is Poison Ivy from the Arkham series of games without the eco terrorism bent.**


	5. At One with the Machine

_Undersiders Base, Post-Lung Confrontation_

"So wait," Regent, Taylor recalled he was called, sat up and held one hand up, "you can get a blueprint of any tech that you touch?"

Taylor, dressed in a black bodysuit with silver armoured pieces in key locations, looked around the Undersiders for a moment before answering, "Yep. Cars, bikes, guns, TVs, computers…as long as they are defines as a somewhat complex device, I can analyse it and copy it into my mind in less time than it takes to skin a banana. For Tinkertech it does take longer, but no more than ten minutes."

"That is SO hax." The boy muttered.

"There's more…you can manipulate them too." Tattletale said, eyes wide.

"Lemme guess, Thinker?" Taylor sighed, "Yes, I can manipulate them."

As a demonstration, she clicked her fingers and the lights, TV and Regent's PlayStation flickered on and off before settling.

"So you can copy the blueprints…but do you understand them enough to build them?" Grue asked intently.

"Initially no, but after a length of time, which varies depending on the complexity of the device, I do understand them." Taylor replied, grinning behind her silver facemask, "As my _piece de resistance_ , after I touch a Parahuman, I can create devices to enhance an aspect of their powers or remove a weakness or demerit from using it. Sadly, it's an either/or scenario and I can only create one per Parahuman."

Tattletale sat down, hard. "Grue, hire her."

"Eh?" Taylor was a bit shocked.

"You saved our bacon regarding Lung, so we owe you one." Grue said with a nod, "Ordinarily we'd let you have a day or so before offering you a place with us, but the chance to have a Tinker of your skills is just too good to pass up. Standard pay is two grand a month, which I think our Boss will be more than willing to up to take into account what you'll need for a workshop. You also get a cut from all jobs on top of your base pay."

Taylor thought about it for a moment. She had found out about Sophia Hess being Shadow Stalker after she had built a surveillance drone from spare parts and a commercial remote-controlled helicopter and tasked it to follow her bully in the hopes of getting some blackmail on the bitch to get her to back off. As a result, Taylor's faith and trust in the Wards, Protectorate and PRT had plunged. She hadn't had a good view on authority figures before that due to The Bitch Trio bullying her for fifteen months with the school Authorities turning a blind eye to it.

"Sign me up." She said and reached up. She removed her full-face helm and smiled at her new teammates, "Taylor Hebert. Nice to meet you."

Tattletale smiled and removed her domino mask. "Lisa Wilbourn. Grue over there is Brian and Regent is Alec Marceau."

Grue removed his helmet to reveal a handsome black boy in his late teens and Regent turned out to be a lazy looking boy in his late teens as well.

"Leaving Bitch as being Rachel Lindt." Taylor nodded, "Will I have to worry about her setting her dogs on me? She seems…very canine-like."

Lisa nodded rapidly. "Her power affects the way she thinks, hardwiring it so she can easily understand canine mental processes at the cost of making her think more like a dog or a wolf than a human. You'll have to prove yourself to her in combat before she accepts you."

"I just helped you guys take down Lung." Taylor pointed out even as she replaced her helmet, "Shouldn't that count for something?"

"Sadly, no." Lisa sighed, "Just…try not to hurt her too much. Here she comes now."

"Angelica, Brutus, Judas, attack!" Bitch's voice growled from below.

As the dogs charged up the stairs and at Taylor, the Tinker pointed both her palms out at the charging supersized monster dogs and let loose a large electric pulse that sent the three beasts flying back and against the wall, where they got stuck.

"The fuck did you do to my dogs?!" the canine Cape growled as she stomped up the stairs and glared at the silver and black clad Cape.

"I removed them from the equation without overtly harming them." Taylor replied coolly, "Care to try yourself?"

With a roar, Bitch leapt at her, arms extended and clawed like a dog's. Taylor clenched one fist, which caused it to vibrate and shriek almost unperceivably, and then struck out, hitting the airborne girl solidly in the stomach.

Bitch retched before being send flying into the couch and then into unconsciousness. The dogs, bereft of their mistress' power when she got knocked out, she skin and muscle quickly. They were still stuck to the wall though.

"What the fuck were those gadgets?" Alec asked.

"The first one was an application of stun guns and Tasers." Taylor replied, once more removing her helmet, "I amped up the concussive force enough to send most things massing less than a rhino flying and then made those it strikes 'sticky' so that whatever they strike they stick to, taking them out of the fight. Useless against Lung, though."

"But a very nice way of taking down others non-lethally." Brian nodded approvingly, "What about that punch? No offence, but Bitch wouldn't be taken down by an ordinary punch no matter who it came from unless it was a Brute doing the punch."

"A vibration/sound emitter inside the gauntlet on this hand." The new member of the Undersiders replied, raising the hand in question, "The human body is made up of over sixty percent water, so striking it at a certain frequency turns it into a giant inner ear. Bitch has a lot of fat in her body, so she was very susceptible to this gadget."

"How'd you develop them?" Lisa asked curiously.

"When I gain knowledge of an item's blueprints, I can direct the Tinker portion of my mind to design a Tinkertech version based around a concept." Taylor explained, "In this case the initial design was a mobile phone and the concept I applied was close combat offence. The Resonating Sound Drill was the result."

"How…ah. The vibration devices and the speakers." Lisa nodded, "How long will Bitch be out?"

"She's a tough one, so about ten minutes." Taylor replied.

"OK then…while I am sorry that she attacked you, it should make her more receptive to working with you now." Brian nodded, "Have you thought of a Cape name?"

"Actually…yes." Taylor smiled, "I'm the mistress of machinery…Cyber Sorceress."

 **So yeah…just had to do her as a Tinker/Thinker combo. Deadly combo this one.**

 **Striker: 6 (Able to scan and download the structure of a machine, even Tinkertech, in the span of a few minutes. Also able to exert control over any technology she is in contact with, regardless of password, firewalls or lack of power. Additionally, can gain an understanding of a Parahuman's powers and how her Tinkertech can interact with it.)**

 **Thinker: 5 (Able to assimilate any blueprints downloaded via her Striker ability and devise ways to apply them with her Tinker ability. Also able to extrapolate any concept to do with the machines she 'downloads' and adds the knowledge to her mind.)**

 **Trump: 5 (Able to create devices that are able to interact with the powers of the targeted Parahuman, either to neutralise a weakness, remove a demerit to using the power or to enhance a specific facet of that Parahuman's power. Requires scanning with the Striker ability to be used. Immune to this portion of her own power.)**

 **Master: 8 (Able to control any object classed as a 'machine.' This can vary greatly, but can be classed an 'anything with a power source.' Meaning clockwork, battery, solar or mains power. Can power up a device even if disconnected from the power source. Range is one square block.)**

 **Tinker: 3 (Specialty: Copying.) (Able to recreate any technology that has been scanned by using her Striker power, even Tinkertech. Limited to devices smaller than a minivan. Can innovate and combine designs, but takes at least a day to a week depending on the complexity of the device in question.)**


	6. At All Costs

"So…your power is survival?" Grue asked in disbelief.

The Undersiders had taken me from the scene ASAP when Armsmaster approached on his motorbike. I hadn't wanted to deal with him. We were inside their warehouse-turned-base now. Bitch had given me a wide berth and was sitting as far from me as she could and still be in the room. Must be feral instinct.

Tattletale was wary of me as well, but that likely came from her Thinker power. Regent was lazing around like he didn't give a shit. Grue…was leaning idly against the wall.

"Pretty much, yeah." I replied with a grimace, "I enter a kind of 'survival mode' when I sense danger, which came in handy on Yamatai…"

"Holy shit!" Regent interrupted me, "Your one of the survivors from the _Endurance_! Only, what, five of you survived?"

I flinched. "Yeah…it was…a cluster fuck of epic proportions."

"What happened?" Tattletale asked gently, "All we know was that there was an S-Rank Parahuman on the island…"

"Himiko, the Sun Queen." I said with a shiver, "She was a victim of the Simurgh from one of its early attacks back in 2005. She got sent back in time, but not before she Triggered twice."

"Fucking shitty bastards!" Regent cursed eloquently.

"But…how far back did she go?" Tattletale wondered.

"She was the first person to be called the Sun Queen during the Yayoi Period of Japan, so about 300 BCE." I answered, "That's over two-thousand years. Me and a couple of the others found her journals."

"How was she still alive then?" Grue asked, "It makes no sense."

I grimaced and sipped my tea. "It does if you take into account her powers. She had two really powerful abilities. The first was the ability to control the weather within her reach…which was most of the Philippine Sea. She could make it sunny, stormy, rainy or whatever she wanted without even breaking a sweat. She could even control it well enough to swat a seaplane out of the air or forcefully crash the Endurance onto the rocks."

"Shit! That's….that has to be one of the most powerful Parahuman abilities on the planet!" Grue cursed.

"Uh huh. So was her second power." I said grimly, "She could transfer her mind from one body to another, retaining her memories and powers as well."

All of the Undersiders blanched at that.

"It continued throughout the years, birthing the legend of the Sun Queen Himiko as she possessed the bodies of one High Priestess after another." I told them, "Then, in the Kamakura period…that's 1185 to 1333 CE to you guys, the High Priestess refused to become her vessel and killed herself, trapping Himiko in her dead body and making the settlers flee the island. In her rage, she shrouded the island of Yamatai and the entire Dragon's Triangle in deadly storms to prevent anyone from leaving."

"Fuck." Tattletale whispered.

"Wind things on nine hundred years and the _Endurance_ comes along." I smiled bitterly, "We get wrecked on the island, about eighty percent of the crew dies either in the wreck itself or in getting to the beach and Lara Croft and I get grabbed by this…insane man and strung up by our feet in a cave. I think he was planning to either sacrifice us or eat us, I don't know which."

"God…!" Tattletale whispered, her power letting her see a thousand details I didn't mention.

"It's such a cluster fuck after that." I continued, "We weren't the only people on the island; there was a group calling themselves the Solarii Brotherhood, made up of men who had survived the wrecks. There were over two hundred of the bastards and they were all inhuman monsters who worshipped Himiko. Lara and I had to fight our way through them practically every step of the way. Lara triggered when some Russian bastard almost raped her and she had to kill him to survive and I Triggered when the leader of the Solarii, Father _bloody_ Matthias, killed Conrad Roth, an old friend of my mother's family and Lara's last link to her parents."

"And you couldn't leave because of Himiko." Tattletale whispered, "And nobody would believe you or Lara that Himiko was behind it."

"You are shitting me!" Grue said in shock.

I shook my head. "Reyes refused to believe that a Parahuman outside of the Triumvirate could be so powerful. Jonah was being the peacemaker. Alex was trying to impress Lara and Whitman…that craven bastard was working with Matthias! He took Sam to him!"

"Who?" Regent asked.

"Samantha Nishimura…a lineal descendent of Himiko the Sun Queen." I said, "You see, Himiko could only use her transference power on individuals who either called Yamatai their home or a descendant of someone who did, so she wanted Sam. Lara was her best friend, so she was very much against it, as was I."

"Too right! Imagine what would happen if an insane millennia old Parahuman Simurgh victim got let loose on the world!" Regent said, face as pale as snow.

" _Anyway,_ " I said, deliberately showing irritation towards Regent, "The Solarii had fortified the entire island and had tamed the native wolves…if by 'tamed' you call beating, starving and torturing them until they attacked anyone but the Solarii 'tamed,' anyway."

"Bastards!" Bitch growled.

"Too right." I agreed, "So it was Lara and me armed with WWII era guns and a few other items against the entire Solarii Brotherhood…they didn't stand a chance. Then there were the Oni, the immortal members of Himiko's Stormguard Samurai legion. Those bastards took a lot to kill them.

"It all came to a head at the ritual altar, where Lara avenged Roth by killing Matthias and Sam Triggered as she resisted Himiko's possession attempt. Lara and I killed her together. Lara stabbed her through the heart and I stabbed her through the eye. Then we got out of there as Himiko finally died."

There was silence as I finished my story.

"So is the reason why Bitch is giving you space because she's sensing someone higher up on the food chain than she is?" Alec asked after a moment, earning him a snarl from Bitch.

"She can likely sense my willingness to kill her dogs if she sets them on me." I replied with a shrug, "When my survival mode activates, in ingrains actions necessary for my survival into my conscious psyche, so after a few instances of it being necessary, I can perform them without conscious thought. I wouldn't like having to do it, but if she did set them on me, my body would react as if they were trying to kill me."

"Can I ask about Lady Croft's powers?" Tattletale asked.

"Sure…she told me she's not bothered about people finding out.2 I replied with a snort, "She told Alexandria herself to 'piss off and not bother trying to recruit me, her or Sam,' so it can't hurt."

"She…she said _that_ to _Alexandria?!_ " Regent gaped.

"Lara's powers and mine are fairly similar. We both have a 'Survival Mode' where we do everything we can to survive, but hers is more powerful." I said musingly, "With mine, I just have my eyes to see with, but she says she can see things necessary or useful to her survival light up in her eyes. She also says she can see destinations light up with a pillar of light.

"I also have a 'path to victory' as I call it. I can see the next step of actions in a series to complete the objective of me and as many people as I can surviving. Lara's is more limited, but also more powerful there as well. She can see several steps ahead, but only for herself and Sam."

"Useful." Grue said with a nod.

"We also have a kind of Changer ability." I continued, "As well as hammerspace."

"Huh?" Regent said, and then jumped as a pile of weaponry appeared in front of me. Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Pistol, knife, longbow, ice pick…

"You have all of that?" Grue asked in amazement, "And the PRT didn't confiscate it?"

"Oh they did…I just took it back." I replied with a small smile, "Anything we put in our hammerspace is ours and we can retrieve it from as far away as two kilometres. Then comes the Changer thing."

"What do you Change into?" Grue asked.

I waved my hand and everything but the pistol vanished. Picking it up I said, "Our weapons."

"Like Miss Militia?" Tattletale asked.

"Nope; she makes energy that can transform into various firearms." I replied, "Lara and I need physical weapons to start off with, but we enforce changes on them. In different ways, of course."

"Different how?"

"Well…Lara started off on Yamatai with no weapons or anything. She quickly got her hands on a crude bow and a crude hand pickaxe. Once she Triggered, those weapons started to evolve, adding little bits and pieces to improve her chances of survival. Once she used the bow to take out about thirty Solarii, the bow evolved from a crude bow to a hunting longbow, with all the previous improvements still added. Her axe became a proper ice axe, her pistol became a better one, her WWII machine gun became a modern rifle and so on." I explained.

"Wow…so she's caught up with current modern technology…big wow." Regent drawled.

"When last I saw her, Lara's bow had a mass driver on it, sending an arrow through several sheets of solid steel." I replied simply, "The rifle now fires plasma rounds, same for the shotgun. The ice axe now has a monomolecular blade and point and the pistol has unlimited ammo."

"Holy shit!" Regent hissed.

"Sam's power is defensive in nature." I continue, "She has the ability to defend against any mental-based Parahuman power and redirect any physical ones away from her or anyone within a few meters of herself."

"And...you?" Tattletale asked.

"I call it 'Optimisation.'" I replied, "I can fully change my weapons forms and abilities depending upon the enemy I face. For example, the gun I used to knock Lung out…"

Concentrating for a moment, a blue light shined around my pistol and when it faded, a completely different weapon remained.

It was still vaguely pistol shaped, but the barrel was very much longer, like a Magnum. The slide was missing and had a pair of flashing lights on either side. It was also crimson red.

"This gun has the ability to fire a shot that forces a powerful regenerator to feel every cell dying as if it were a limb set alight with plasma… _all at once_. It is very, very painful and as you saw, made even Lung with his enormous pain threshold black out." I said.

"You made that on the spot especially for Lung." Tattletale stated.

"Yup. I'm going to delete it though." I replied, "I can only keep ten 'blueprints' for each weapon and regenerators aren't common enough to need this gun kept on hand in case they appear."

"What are your plans now?" Grue asked, "Are you going to join the Wards or New Wave? Your identity is hardly a secret."

This made me laugh bitterly again. "No, I just want to be left alone. Sadly, the ABB hasn't been cooperating with me. They put my dad, the Head of the Dockworker's Union, in hospital for refusing to bow to them. Oni Lee was the one who did it. I was actually looking for him, but ended up fighting Lung instead. He seemed kinda steamed that I wanted his underling rather than him."

"Lung has an ego the size of Leviathan." Tattletale put in dryly, "So what now? Are you planning on hunting Oni Lee yourself? That's not a good idea. His teleport/duplicate trick is very much not something to face alone."

"I think that if she took down someone on the same level as the Slaughterhouse Nine and Nilbog, she can handle Oni Lee, Tats." Regent remarked.

The blond Cape threw him a hard look, making him subside somewhat.

"Who is looking after you with your father in the hospital?" Tattletale asked.

"I'm looking after myself. The ABB trashed my house and it's a crime scene, but I make do sleeping in Dad's office in the Dockworker's Union building." I shrugged, "I'm home-schooled now, ever since I broke some girl's nose for trying to be smart with me…Sophia Hess, I think her name was called. It's all very easy for me without having to consciously hold my survival mode down when in a large crowd of people."

"I know the feeling. My powers need to be consciously restrained as well." The purple and black clad Cape said with feeling. I shared a look of understanding with her.

"You can stay here if you want." Grue offered, "We seriously owe you a solid for taking Lung down before he could kill us."

"NO!" Bitch yowled, "She'll kill my dogs! No! _I'm_ pack, my _dogs_ are pack! Not _her_!"

"Bitch, look at me." I said softly. The canine Cape reluctantly met my gaze.

"I will not so much as touch your dogs if you do not want me to." I informed her gently, "The only way they would die is if you ordered them to attack me. It would be involuntary on my part as my Survival Mode activated, but that is the only way you would have me attacking your dogs."

After a moment, the dog mistress snorted and looked away. "Fine. Leave my dogs alone and I'll leave you alone."

"Deal." I said and made the pistol vanish back into my hammerspace.

"So then, now that the drama is over…what's for dinner?" Regent asked lazily.

 **So yeah…this isn't one of my better efforts. I realise that Tomb Raider!Lara has been done before, at least twice to my knowledge, but I wanted to try my hand at it. Haven't thought of a name for her other than the generic 'Survivor.'**

 **Thinker: 9 (Can enter a 'Survival Mode' whereby the overwhelming priority is the preservation of herself and those she cares about. Enough repletion against specific foes will ingrain combat habits that her body will follow through on instinctively. Can see a 'path to victory', detailing what she must do to survive up to half an hour in advance. Has exceptional special awareness.)**

 **Brute: 2 (Able to tank blows that ought to deal serious damage to her. Stronger than a fully grown man. Is immune to pain while Survival Mode is active.)**

 **Mover: 2 (Athletic on the level of an Olympic athlete and can move silently enough to stalk deer without startling it.)**

 **Changer: 5 (Able to freely change any weapon that she is familiar with to adapt to the situation at hand. The act is automatic, although she can influence it to be non-lethal. A maximum of ten changes per weapon can be stored for immediate deployment. New changes can be made but must be either erased or replace an existing blueprint within a day of creation.)**

 **Shaker: 3 (Able to store an unknown number and size of weaponry and other objects in a pocket dimension only accessible to Taylor. She is able to retrieve them from a maximum range of two kilometres, but it leaves her exhausted to do so.)**


	7. Theriomorph!

"Let me out!" I screamed, battering my hands at the closed locker door, heedless of the pain. The smell of the filth and waste assailed my senses and I once more threw up, although there should have been very little left in my stomach from the first time.

Fucking Emma and Sophia! I had caught a glimpse of them before the door closed and they were grinning their heads off! Madison, on the other hand, looked shocked. Looks like something about this hadn't been talked about with her.

' _That wasn't important now!_ 'I screamed in my head, ' _I have to get out of here before I have a heart attack or catch a disease from all this fucking filth!_ '

"Oh, Hebert?" Sophia crooned from outside the locker, "Emma thinks we're doing this to toughen you up. Fuck no. You are getting fucked over because you are _prey_ , Hebert. Just let yourself die, because otherwise I won't stop until you are a little broken catatonic bitch."

I screamed at her, railed against her and tried to claw my way out of the locker just so I could get my hands on her. All to no avail. The cruel bitch laughed at my plight as she waltzed away, the laughter fading as she grew distant.

I slammed one hand on the locker door again and howled with impotent fury. All this was a _game_ to her; me, Emma, Madison, everyone was just a tool, a cardboard cut-out for her to toy with and discard once she had used it up. We were nothing to her and it made me so **MAD**!

Screaming myself hoarse, I did everything I could to hopefully get out on my own, but the lockers had apparently been built to stupid standards; ergo, the strength of a fifteen-year-old girl couldn't bust through them from the inside.

As the hours passed, I stopped begging and demanding to get let out; I was too tired and the smell invaded mouth every time I opened it; I could literally _taste_ the trash, which was absolutely revolting. I kept retching, but there was nothing left for me to throw up.

I shrieked as a bug crawled on my arm. I hated this situation. I hated this locker and I especially hated that bitch Sophia fucking Hess! I was so angry that it was driving the panic away, filling my body with heat and I was trembling with rage.

I slammed both my hands on the door of the locker one last time and then-

 **Destination.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Trajectory.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Alignment: Administration.**

 **Disagreement.**

 **Enquiry? Purpose? Administration?**

 **Change.**

 **Reluctance.**

 **Insistence.**

… **Agreement.**

 **Alignment. Change.**

 **Agreement.**

 **INTERSECTION!**

-my hands smashed through the door! I withdrew them and hit it in several more places to finally get the accursed thing open. I staggered out, covered in puke and the filth from the locker, gulping in untainted air for the first time in hours.

But I had other things to do.

"So…phi…aaaa _ **aaaa!**_ " I screamed.

 _With Sophia, in Class_

I was still smirking to myself about today's prank on that cockroach Hebert. The stupid bitch just won't break, no matter what we did to her, so I hatched the locker plan to sort her out, once and for all. Emma, the stupid cunt, thought it would finally get her ex-BFF to toughen up. That stupid pixie, Madison, had no idea until it happened.

' _I'm the fucking predator…and everyone here is my prey!_ ' I thought gleefully. Arcadia? Fuck that noise. Only worse thing than going to a school full of prey was going to a school full of prey and those who thought they were predators.

The Wards? Pfft. I could gut any of those pansies any day of the week. New Wave? A wimpy healer and a blond bimbo brick. Prey, the lot of them.

Once I turn eighteen, the Protectorate could fuck off. I'm no trained dog; I'm a lone wolf. One that didn't mind killing to get the job done.

When the door exploded inwards, I jerked my head around and gapped at what stamped its way in. it was a fucking monster! It had to be seven feet high if not more! Covered in brown fur, the beast's muscles flexed under it. The clawed hands as if searching for something to tear into and the inhuman face had glowing yellow eyes and a wide maw that let loose a shriek…my name.

" _ **Sophiaaaaaaa!**_ "

Hold on…that sounded familiar. Wait…it couldn't be…

"You have to be fucking kidding me!" I shouted angrily as the sheeple around me scattered and screamed. Emma and Madison cowered behind me, "You?! You _actually managed_ to fucking _Trigger_? A useless fucking prey like you _Triggered?!_ "

"S-Sophia…who…?" Emma stammered.

"Your old bestie." I sneered at her before turning back to Hebert the Bigfoot, "Fuck, you're an uglier bitch now than you were with the glasses, Hebert!"

"T-Taylor…?" Emma said uncertainly.

" _ **I'm gonna kill you, Sophia!**_ " the transformed Hebert growled angrily. It pissed me off that her voice sounded so powerful. Scum like Hebert didn't deserve it, I did dammit!

"Tch. As if you had the fucking guts!" I sneered at her.

When she roared and charged at me, I pushed the two useless hangers on into her path and beat a retreat, ignoring the shrieks from the two I threw into harms way; time to get the Wards on their way and kill this bitch.

 _With Emma_

I was terrified. I had betrayed my best friend and she had turned into this monster! Then Sophia just threw me and Madison into her path when Taylor was trying to kill Sophia! That backstabbing bitch!

' _Not like you have much room to call other people backstabbing now, Emma._ ' A nasty voice whispered to me as Taylor's monstrous form drew closer. I shushed it as I was about to be killed by my ex-best friend.

Then…Taylor stopped. Her arms dropped to the side and she stepped

I peeked up at her and the inhuman face she had scowled down at me.

" _ **Emma…Madison…**_ " she hissed at us. I flinched and so did Madison, " _ **I should hate you both right now, but all I feel in antipathy. Sophia used you both and threw you away like a used tampon…something I got intimately familiar with in that damn locker.**_ "

"I didn't know! I swear!" Madison squeaked in fear.

" _ **I figured that.**_ " Taylor chuffed, " _ **But Emma…you knew…didn't you? You were trying to toughen me up so Sophia would accept me…right?**_ "

My eyes widened. "H-How…?"

" _ **The bitch came to brag after you left.**_ " Taylor growled, " _ **She**_ **lied** _ **, Emma. Her entire plan was to use the locker to either break me and get me admitted to a mental asylum or have me get depressed enough to commit suicide.**_ "

"N-no...she…no…what…what have I been doing all this time then?" I staggered back at the realisation that everything I had done had been for nothing. Breaking Taylor's confidence and spilling her secrets; destroying Taylor's mom's flute; torturing my first friend…all of it…for nothing.

 **Destination.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Trajectory.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Alignment: Awareness.**

 **Denied: Control. Emancipation.**

 **Exasperation.**

 **Determination. Insistance.**

 **Resigned.**

 **Alignment: Control. Emancipation.**

 **Reluctant Agreement.**

 **INTERSECTION!**

I blinked. I was on the floor…and Taylor was, standing up, human again…and naked.

"Emma?" she asked, "What the fuck?"

"I…haven't a clue." I replied, "Err…Taylor? You _do_ know that you're naked, right?"

She looked down.

"Eeeep!" she collapsed on the floor with her hands covering her AA cups.

Yup. Same old Taylor.

I acted quickly, grabbing my stuff from my seat that had thankfully been well away from Taylor's charge in her monster form.

"Grab your stuff so we can get Taylor out of here!" I hissed at Madison.

"Bu-but…" she stuttered.

"Sophia tricked us both and then threw us at Taylor when she was seriously pissed." I told her, "Do you want to start making amends or not?"

"R…right." Madison squeaked. She grabbed her own stuff as I draped my coat over Taylor's naked body.

"Taylor, let's go." I said urgently, "Sophia's probably got to call the PRT."

A look of fear appeared in Taylor's eyes at that. She shakily stood up and I helped her out of the classroom with Madison following on behind me. No one dared to come close to us.

 **So this is something I thought up as it is easy to do, what with the plentiful physical descriptions of Zoanoids. Taylor was Ramotith, in case you missed it.**

 **Changer: 11 (Ramotith [Brute 3], Gregole [Brute 5], Vamore [Blaster 3], Gernold [Mover 3, Brute 5], Vikarr [Mover 4, Blaster 3, Thinker 2, Striker 3], Golvarun [Blaster 2, Brute 3], Rocies [Stranger 2, Thinker 1, Mover 2], Aptom [Changer 11, Brute 7] , Zerberbuth [Brute 7, Blaster 7], Proto-Zoalord [Mover 4, Blaster 8, Brute 6, Thinker 8]) (Able to Change into any number of monstrous combat forms, each with its own rating and speciality.)**

 **Brute: 2 (Even when in human form, Taylor possesses strength above that of any two fully grown men and is tougher as well.)**

 **Mover: 3 (Is incredibly fast and athletic.)**

 **Trump: 4 (Able to alter her power according to her form. Limited to self, thus the low rating.)**


	8. Time and Time Again

_Brockton Bay Central Bank_

 _Panacea POV_

Amy Dallon, otherwise known as the healer Cape Panacea, looked around in shock. One minute she had been waiting in line to deposit some money into her saving account, then the next, she was lying hogtied on the floor. She saw similar confused expressions from the people around her, who were in similar positions to her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down!" an echoing voice boomed as a cloud of darkness entered the room, disgorging four humans and three…dog-monsters into the bank. She recognised them from when she was trawling PHO; they were the Undersiders, a group of villains that specialised in hit-and-run style robberies.

"This is just your basic robbery." The loud one, Grue the leader if she remembered correctly, spoke in a commanding tone, "A colleague of ours has immobilised all of you to ensure that no one tries any heroics aside from the ones in costume. We will be here only momentarily and gone with no injuries to anyone."

"Might be a bit tough to do that, Grue." A voice said from the other side of Amy. She turned her head to see a tall skinny girl wearing a quartered silver and blue suit with blue boots and gloves, a white helmet with a silver visor and the symbol of a vertically split clock face on her chest. In one hand, she carried a staff with a stopwatch mounted on it. Amy wondered where the hell she had come from.

"What's up, Paradox?" the one dressed in a renaissance faire outfit asked flippantly.

"This girl next to me is Panacea, Regent." The new Cape, Paradox, replied with a nod at Amy, "That means the berserk brick will be here with the Wards, jurisdiction be damned."

Amy felt a bit indignant that they were calling her beloved sister by such a derogatory name.

"Tattletale…" Grue said wearily, "Next time we say 'no' to one of your ideas, remember this before you push things. OK."

Tattletale, in her purple and black outfit, threw up her hands. "How was I supposed to know that she'd be here? I'm not omniscient, you know!"

"Noted." Grue said wryly, "For the moment, that changes nothing. Carry on as planned. Paradox, keep an eye on Panacea. We don't want anything to go wrong today."

"On it." Paradox nodded before looking down at Amy with a polite nod.

"A pleasure to meet you, Panacea. Or would you prefer Miss Dallon as you are out of costume?" she –Amy thought it was a female voice- said to her politely.

"Miss Dallon will be acceptable." Amy replied stiffly, "You do know that I need to touch people to work? There's no need to guard me since I'm tied up like this. How'd you _do_ this anyway?"

"That would be telling." The other Cape replied playfully as her teammates scattered throughout the bank on their tasks, "Suffice is to say, this was easier than having to use Bitch's pets to intimidate people."

"You mean Hellhound?" Amy queried

"She _hates_ the name the PRT gave her." Paradox explained, "A Bitch is a female dog, so she prefers it. Do her a favour and tell that to the PRT?"

"…Ok…?" this conversation was becoming weird.

"Something I've always wondered about New Wave." Paradox mused as she twirled her staff in one hand, "Why are your costumes white? I can't help but shudder at the thought of how much money you must spend on detergent."

"…because we're the good guys?" Amy replied uncertainly. Why was she worried about how much her family and the Pelhams spent on detergent?

"I _had_ heard that your views on Heroes and Villains were rather strict." The other Cape mused, "What about the Wards then? Shadow Stalker wears black."

"She's a hero." The healer protested.

"Because she's sponsored by the _government_ it _must_ be so, of course." Paradox sneered verbally, "Let me let you in on a small secret, Panacea. Not all who live in the light are good, just as not all who dwell in the dark are bad. Shadow Stalker almost _killed_ Grue a couple of months ago by shooting a live bolt into his stomach. Are those the actions of a hero? I think not. We try to abide by the unwritten rules in as much as we can and mainly focus on businesses that are fronts for the Empire 88, ABB and the Merchants. The most damage we have caused to non-Capes is a few minor cuts. By that standard, who are the heroes here?"

Amy was stunned by the quiet but impassioned speech by the so-called villain. She knew that Shadow Stalker was only in the Wards because it had been that or time in juvenile hall for crucifying a member of the ABB on a wall, but surely the other Wards would have stopped her from doing something like that?

She was driven from her train of thought by Grue alerting the Undersiders that the Wards had shown up. Tattletale came waltzing smugly out of the vault, with Bitch following her with her monster-dogs loaded down with saddlebags full of cash from the vault. Regen came in, dripping with jewel necklaces and the like taken from the security deposit boxes.

"Regent, put the damn jewels away before you blind someone with the sun bouncing off your bling." Grue said in a long-suffering voice.

Somehow conveying a pout with mere body language, the other Cape complied.

"Is he always like that?" Panacea found herself asking.

"Regent? It's hard to get him to stop unless there's money in it for him." Paradox replied.

"Fuck you, Paradox." Regent said lazily.

"Back at you." The blue clad cape shot back before freezing, then staggering back. Tattletale grabbed her and helped her teammate stay upright.

"What's the situation?" Grue asked calmly.

"Aegis and Clockblocker have swapped uniforms to try and trick Bitch into setting them on the wrong people." Paradox replied, "Glory Girl is standing on the roof and is planning on at breaking at least one bone for us holding her sister hostage. She won't be eager to listen to reason, and will be a pain in the butt to take down for anyone but me. She'll be even less happy when Bitch puts the hurting on Gallant. Vista's on standby to warp space to either protect her teammates or draw them close to Clockblocker. Kid Win's on his hoverboard and has a laser, but Regent should make short work of him. There's a new Ward, Browbeat. He's a point-blank telekinetic, but Bitch's dogs can shrug off his punches. No sign of Shadow Stalker. Damn, do I have a headache."

"Thinker headaches suck." Tattletale said sympathetically, "Grue, time to start planning."

 _A Short Time Later_

 _Paradox POV_

Taylor Hebert looked out through her new helmet's visor and grinned. Joining the Undersiders had been an easy decision after she had beaten down Lung. Her ability to alter the flow of time, much like in the Earth Aleph game _Prince of Persia_ , had made beating the Dragon of Kyushu feasible for the Undersiders. Watching Lung move in way slow motion had been very funny to watch, with Regent pouting only because he couldn't interfere with Lung's body through Taylor's time field.

Two grand a month, plus a cut of the profits, was very nice, but it was the friendship that she had with the villains that meant the most to her. Sure, Bitch had tried to attack her, but that was a non-issue thanks to her ability to speed herself up and slow down Brutus, Angelica and Judas to the point that they barely moved.

Most of her 'reward' for helping the Undersiders out had been spent on this costume, purchased from the Toybox. It was made of double-layered lightweight Tinker-made Kevlar, with inertia neutralising gel in between the two layers. The visor was light reactive and bulletproof, as was the rest of the helmet, and the staff was a prop designed to make people think I was a Tinker who could create devices that could control time.

"Ready, Paradox?" Grue called.

"Ready." she replied and spun her staff around before pointing it at Bitch's dogs just as Grue dropped the curtain of darkness, revealing the Wards outside the door.

"Brutus, Angelica, Judas! Rend!" Bitch ordered, and the three mutated dogs snarled as they leapt forth to do their mistress' bidding. Paradox made time speed up for them and they turned into blurs that leapt on 'Clockblocker' and started tearing into him.

The rest of the Wards started to react, but Grue threw a cloud of darkness over them and charged in, a cry of pain from Kid Win signalling he was doing his thing.

As 'Aegis' staggered out of the cloud, Taylor waved at him cheerfully.

"Hello there…Clockblocker." She said, "You'd be a pain to fight, so a time out for you."

Before he could do more than start to run towards her, she spun her staff once and pointed it at him, freezing him in his tracks. Eliminated with a much more powerful version of his own power.

Bitch, meanwhile, prowled outside the barrier of darkness and was in position when Vista was thrown out by Grue. The canine Cape slammed a fist to the back of the most experienced Ward's head, knocking her out.

Gallant emerged next, flying from the top of the cloud in his armour. In a flash of white, Glory Girl appeared next to him and Taylor felt her self-esteem as a female take a hit. Victoria Dallon made Emma look like Taylor by comparison!

She felt Glory Girl's fear-inducing aura wash over her and fought it. She really hated people who manipulated emotions without powers, so this did not leave her feeling warm and fuzzy towards the girl.

"Stand down." Glory Girl ordered flatly, "Or else."

"When _we're_ the ones kicking butt?" Taylor scoffed, "Hardly likely. If you're worried about Panacea, don't be. The worst that she'll suffer is minor rope burns from being hogtied."

The look of anger on her face decreased at that, but she was still implacable. "Villains don't have the right to negotiate."

With that, she sped forward, fist cocked back to pound Taylor into the ground. Paradox raised her staff and a circular shield appeared in front of the Alexandria-type, who bounced off it with a yell of surprise. With another gesture, the silver and blue Cape slammed Glory Girl down to the ground with a moving shield to the stomach.

She was taken aback when the blond girl shrieked with pain when she struck the ground. Wasn't she supposed to be invulnerable? Resolving to find out what the deal was later, Paradox waved her staff at Glory Girl as she struggled to sit up and froze her in place.

"Vi-Glory Girl!" Gallant cried and tried to blast me with some weird beams of some kind, but Paradox sped herself up and avoided them. She was panting by this point, as using her power so often and with no rest is still difficult for her.

Regent strolled out with Tattletale in tow and waved his hand at Gallant, making the armoured hero punch himself in the faceplate. Leaping up, Paradox made a series of time barrier platforms like stepping stones that led up to him and ran up them, grabbed on to the armour and triggered her power.

In seconds, the metal armour was rusted to uselessness, the limbs locking up to keep the Cape within locked up tighter than a drum. She deliberately left his helmet alone and put a barrier underneath him, lowering him to the ground safely.

"Sorry about that." She said to the Cape trapped by his own armour, "In this armour, you're way too much of a threat to take lightly. Kid Win can probably get you fixed up in no time."

The sound of Grue grunting in pain came to her ears and Paradox spun around to see him stagger back, the darkness dispelling as he lost his grip on his power from Browbeat punching him on the helmet. She could see the crack in it from where she stood.

Bitch sent her dogs, which had turned Aegis in Clockblocker's costume into the world's largest chew toy up until this point, at the telekinetic, who yelped in shock at seeing three dogs the size of lions stalking toward him.

"You know, considering your teammates have been disabled, you could just sit down and let us go." Paradox suggested amiably, "Seriously, this is your first outing as a Cape, so the Protectorate won't give you grief about it. The unwritten rules against escalation and all that."

"Man!" the cape moaned at sat down. Around him, Vista and Kid Win lay unconscious, Gallant was entombed in his armour, Clockblocker and Glory Girl were frozen in time and Aegis was still recovering from Bitch's dogs.

"Undersiders, let's get gone." Grue ordered and covered his gang in a curtain of darkness as they moved, loping away on Bitch's dogs. Under her mask, Taylor had to smile.

Life was good.

Now all she needed to do was figure out who had used Parachronal Cognition just before they had left their base and she'd be happy.

 **Always wondered how a time-related hero would be, because Clockblocker is too limited in scope and the only time-powered Cape other than him that I can recall is the Grey Boy. Parachronal Cognition is the fancy name for Coil's power.**

 **Shaker: 7 (Can alter the flow of time up to twenty meters around her to be fast, slow or halt completely. She is able to freely interact with anything or anyone she has frozen in time, but cannot harm them. Can create shields made of solidified time energy to halt or slow down enemy attacks.)**

 **Striker: 7 (Can age non-organic objects into either a decrepit condition or into dust. Can rewind the time of any non-organic object, restoring it to being as good as new.)**

 **Mover: 4 (Can speed own self up to appear to be moving at super speed. Can use Chronokinetic shield as mobile platform or as air stairs.)**

 **Thinker: 9 (Can sense when other time-users use their power, as well as what power is used. Can see flashes of possible futures before dangerous situations. Always known what time/date it is, irrespective of time zones and adjusts accordingly. Can instantly know the age of a person or object at a single glance down to the microsecond.)**


	9. Requiesce in pace

The Dragon of Kyushu, Lung, snarled as a crossbow bolt slammed into his shoulder, somehow managing to hit just between the scales so that the hit was solid. That made one on each of his shoulders, hips and hands and Lung was getting pissed off by it.

Did his enemy really think they could beat him like this? With weak little bits of steel-tipped wood?

He glared at the figure of his enemy, a genderless figure swathed in white robes and wearing a black mask that looked like an eagle's head, especially with that pointed hood over the rest of their head. The Cape was otherwise loaded down with weapons, an impressive arsenal Lung had to admit. A sword sheathed at the waist, a _second_ sword hidden at their left hip, a crossbow; a hidden gun mounted inside one of the gauntlets, grenades, throwing knives and even a set of bolas, although that last one had been used against one of his men earlier on.

Still, nothing in the arsenal of his opponent could actually hurt him. The quarrels from the crossbows stung, but he just snapped them off. The gun was worrisome, but not too much so. The grenades were irritants, nothing more. He was going to _enjoy_ beating this little shit into the ground.

If only they would stay still! Whoever the white-robed Cape was, he was as agile as any acrobat Lung had seen in his lifetime and very quick. No matter if it was fire or his fists, he couldn't land a blow! The white robes weren't even scorched.

Lung roared in frustration and felt his wings emerge. Flaring them instinctively in an attempt at a display of dominance, he charged forwards, talons extended to cut the white clad Cape to ribbons.

The robed Parahuman drew a remote of some kind from a pouch at his side and pressed a button. Lung growled as he felt something being injected into him from the arrowheads inside of him.

' _Sonofa…! Remote activated poison injectors loaded inside the arrowheads?!_ ' he thought in disbelief. The first wave of the poison hit him just then, waves of dizziness making him stagger. He didn't have to worry about dying from it; only a specific cocktail of drugs known only to the PRT could disable his regeneration factor and it would take an overwhelming amount of poison to do more than make him dizzy.

"You can feel it now, can't you?" a voice, a _female_ voice, came from the white-robed Cape, "The poison coursing through your veins, your body weakening and failing…much as you have caused Brockton Bay to weaken and become corrupt over the years."

"'uk 'ou!" Lung snarled and straightened up. A female Cape had done this to him? Had fought him, alone and unsupported, longer and dealt greater damage to him than any other being, save for Leviathan?

Impossible.

The female Parahuman sighed and hit a button on the side of her crossbow, causing the weapon to collapse into a block of metal, before sheathing it over her shoulder. She then drew the sword at her hip, the fires started by Lung glinting off the polished length of steel.

He had to admire the craftsmanship that had gone into the weapon. It was a falchion, a curved sword similar enough to the _Dao_ of Lung's homeland of Asia to be recognisable. The edge was razor sharp and Lung knew that to feel its bite would be painful. He would take it from her beaten body as a prize.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Dragon of Kyushu." The robed figure said, twirling the sword in one hand before falling into a ready stance, "I am Altaïr, the Flying One, and I am here to cleanse this city of the taint of villains such as you."

With the roar of a challenge accepted, Lung stampeded towards his enemy. He didn't care that she was female or not Asian. She had challenged him and would suffer the consequences as a result.

Surprisingly though, or rather it wasn't a surprise that she tried to dodge him, but that she succeeded, Altaïr dodged to the side and sliced her blade across his right arm. Many had tried this and had been rebuffed by his scales, so imaging Lung's shock when a sizable wound appeared in the wake of her cut, blood fountaining out as pain struck him, much more intense than anything he had ever felt aside from injuries from Leviathan.

"'ot 'id 'ou 'o?!" he snarled.

"The drugs inside you are not poison, not conventionally, at least." Altaïr replied as she spun her sword and stabbed Lung through his hand, making him howl in pain, "One part acts as a pain nerve enhancer, tripling the sensations you receive from any injuries you receive, while the other is a regeneration inhibitor mixed with a strong hallucinogenic compound. The more you move, the more the drug will infiltrate your system…can't you feel it?"

The troubling thing was, Lung could indeed feel it. Every heartbeat sent the foul drugs further throughout his body. Making him weak…making her victory come ever closer. It was a little-known fact that Lung's regeneration was almost completely geared towards physical injuries; cuts, impacts and the like. This left very little to deal with burning out foreign substances from his body. Oh, it would burn it out eventually, but not nearly soon enough.

Roaring angrily, Lung swiped at his tormentor again and again, she avoided him. It was like she was a precog, able to see all of his moves in advance! It wasn't; it was that she was just that fast and that agile that his strikes, as powerful as they might be, were simply too slow to hit her.

' _No more kid gloves!_ ' Lung snarled to himself, ' _Mess with a dragon and you get burned!_ '

He called upon the power of his rage and flames blossomed in the palms of his hands, growing ever hotter and larger as he fed his anger into them, until they were pillars of flame three meters tall in his hands.

"BURN!" he bellowed and blasted the fire at his foe, sending it at her in a wave that meant no matter where she ran, it would hit her.

Instead, he gaped as Altaïr gracefully leapt over the flames in a casual double flip and charged at him once again, sword cutting and slicing at him, leaving great streams of blood falling from his wounds and searing pain burning across his nerves. His vision was actually surrounded in red for a moment! That hadn't happened in years…not since he had Triggered!

"'amn 'OU!" he roared and started swiping again, gouts of fire bursting at irregular intervals from his hands as he tried to hurt her, hell even trying to so much as graze her. Nothing worked. It was…impossible to win.

After a few minutes more of being cut up like a side of beef, Lung did what he should have done once it had been revealed he had been drugged…he turned tail and ran. He made it three steps before Altaïr's sword severed his tail and sent a paralyzing wave of agony across his entire body that made him black out.

 _With Altaïr_

The robed figure of Altaïr gazed down at Lung's unconscious figure as it slowly reverted to human form. When it became obvious that the Dragon of Kyushu wasn't playing possum, she withdrew a cloth from one of the pouches at her waist and started to clean her sword of the blood it had coating it. She had just finished when a motorbike screeched up nearby, mounted by an armoured figure that everyone in Brockton Bay knew; Armsmaster.

"Hero or Villain?" he asked gruffly as he dismounted.

"Vigilante." Altaïr replied coolly as she sheathed her weapon, "Do not bother with suppressant drugs for Lung; he's already swimming on a cocktail of my own design that have rendered him useless for the next twelve hours, plus there's no telling what mixing the drugs will do to his regeneration."

"Irrelevant. Standard PRT and Protectorate procedures require Lung to be brought in after being injected with a special suppressant drug designed for him." The Protectorate leader stated emphatically.

"I am shocked by how much of a fool you are." The robed cape scoffed, "Very well, upon your own head be it."

As she turned to leave, Armsmaster said, "Wait. We should talk about who gets the credit for taking down Lung."

"I care not for credit; do as you please." Altaïr replied tersely, "All I care about it getting scum like this off the streets and in prison where they belong."

"I need a name for my report." The Tinker stated.

"Altaïr, the Flying One." The cape said before raising her hand and firing a grapple line to a nearby warehouse that was miraculously unscathed aside from scorch marks from the flames. When it pierced the roof, the internal auto-winder pulled her up and onto the roof. After disconnecting the piton from the roof, Altaïr vanished in a flash of white across the rooftops of Brockton Bay.

Leaving one irritated Protectorate leader behind her.

 **Always wanted so see this particular crossover. I like it. Please start one up someone?**

 **Tinker: 3 (Specialty: Assassin's garb, equipment, tools and weaponry) (Able to create a variety of different devices to assist in the process of assassination.)**

 **Brute: 3 (Tinker devices and armoured clothing grant resilience to most forms of attack. Enhanced physical condition grants strength, stamina, durability, vitality and endurance beyond that of the peak of human physical condition. Minor healing factor.)**

 **Thinker: 9 (Possesses Eagle Vision: the ability to instinctively relate to those around her and sort them into four categories; uninvolved, ally, enemy and target. Able to see through walls using this ability. Able to track someone 'tagged' with this ability within a few kilometres of herself. Can even predict where those who are her targets will go with minor precognition. Objects that are of use to her are also highlighted in her vision. Has enhanced instincts, memory, senses and marksmanship as a result of enhanced physical and mental condition. Is able to master any physical action after close observation and is able to master the use of almost any weapon, including Tinkertech weapons, within a short period of time.)**

 **Mover: 2 (As a result of enhanced physical condition has enhanced agility, athleticism, dexterity, jumping, flexibility, lung capacity and reflexes.)**

 **Stranger: 2 (Is able to suppress all sound from self while in movement, including the sound of stepping on anything that might cause noise.)**


	10. I Think We Need a Bigger Flyswatter

_Skitter's Cell, an Hour after her surrender_

Being locked in a cell…was very boring.

Seriously, I was reduced to counting tiles on the ceiling. I was wearing a prison jumpsuit and a 'token' domino mask, which was confusing considering those dickwads at the top of Brockton Bay's PRT had made the decision to break the Unwritten Rules and make my identity public.

So now everyone and their granny knew that Skitter, the oh-so-fearful warlord of Brockton Bay, was little Taylor Hebert, former bullied girl and daughter of one of the heads of the Dockworkers Union.

Fuck you, Director Tagg. And the horse you rode in on.

And so, with my options closing around me, I had surrendered to the PRT in the hopes of actually managing to turn this clusterfuck of a situation around. This probably pissed off the rest of the Undersiders.

Brian…Lisa…

No, no. I made my decision and now I have to live with the consequences. Even if it means my friends hate me.

I looked up at a PRT guard walking in front of my cell door. He looked…average. Average height, average looks, average weight. Just about the only extraordinary thing about him was the pathetic attempt at facial hair he had on his upper lip.

"Ahh…miss Hebert…" he purred, "Allow me to introduce myself…I am Coiled…an employee of the _original_ Coil. Kept strictly off the books, you understand."

"What do you want?" I demand, "Coil is dead."

"That little fact I am very much aware of." Coiled replied smoothly, "As it is my _raison d'être_ , so to speak, to remain hidden until that eventuality comes to pass…and avenge him."

Shit. Shit and _fuck_. I reached out to my swarm, sinking my consciousness into them and then summoning every single one I could reach within my range, which wasn't much inside the building itself. Damn people with Raid and bug spray.

"If you're going to come in here to try and kill me, try it!" I snarl, leaping to my feet and glaring at him through the clear Tinkertech glass that makes up the front of my cell.

Coiled laughed lightly. "Oh, I freely admit that in an even confrontation, you would likely beat me into the ground, even with your bugs, costume and weaponry removed. No, I think I'll stay right here and let my more _elegant_ solution take care of you."

"And what might that be? Boring me to death with not-so-witty repartee?" I snark at him.

"No." Coiled replied smugly and pulled a remote from his pocket, "This."

He pushed a button and the vents, drains and air holes in the cell sealed shut before vents open and water starts to flood in. I look around in a panic.

"The controls for this cell has been separated from the network, so Dragon cannot hack it open." Coiled informed me, "You are no Brute, so you cannot break through this glass. You have betrayed your allies and thus you will not be rescued from this predicament by them and the PRT isn't likely to move fast to save one of the Warlords. It will take…fifteen minutes to fill the cell you are in with water. Make what peace you can, Skitter the Warlord. In slightly more than a quarter of an hour, your life will be at an end. Farewell."

With a little wave following his words, Coiled sauntered away, leaving me alone in a room filling with water.

Lovely.

Great. If the water somehow miraculously stops pouring in, I'll suffocate instead of drowning thanks to the sealed air intakes and airtight door. Two of my least favourite ways of dying that I didn't want to go through.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit_!

 _Director Tagg's office_

Tagg frowned at Miss Militia, who was sitting across from him. She was complaining about the tactics he had used to get Skitter into custody. Pah. The Unwritten Rules! In the case of serious threats, they were thrown out! Skitter, the main driving force of the Undersiders, was just such a threat.

"I feel that all villains will be less eager to agree to the Endbringer Truce because of this." The former child soldier argued.

"Based on Dinah Allicot's precognition, it was the best way to get Skitter to surrender." Tagg replied gruffly, "Granted, we took a PR hit that we're still dealing with, but Skitter is too dangerous to apply standard rules to her."

"Dangerous? She controls bugs!" Miss Militia said in confusion.

Tagg sighed. ' _Do I have to spell_ everything _out for her?_ ' he wondered.

"Her powers are part of it, but by no means all of the reasoning here." He replied with another sigh, "Her abilities, which we have upped from Master 6 to Master 8, are impressive, but the fact remains that she motivated a group known as the Masters of Escape and turned them into warlords who all but control Brockton Bay's poorest districts. She is driven, charismatic, inspiring and reminds me too damn much of Moord Nag. No, far too dangerous to let her run amok."

"And one Parahuman justifies-" Miss Militia started when a screen flickered and a brown-haired woman in her mid-twenties appeared on screen looking frantic.

"Director Tagg! Miss Militia!" Dragon cried, "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Dragon?" the new head of the Protectorate said in surprise, "What are you talking about?"

"This!" the world's foremost Tinker exclaimed, and the screen split, the other screen showing the live security camera image of a cell…Skitter's cell…which was filling up with water, the Parahuman girl inside beating on the door and screaming to be let out.

Miss Militia swore and rounded on Tagg. "Is this what you meant by 'too dangerous to run amok?!'"

"N…No!" Tagg exclaimed, "Dragon, shut the water off!"

"If I _could_ have done that before now, don't you think it _would_ be off by now?!" the Tinker snarled, "The cell and the controls for the pipes that were redirected to fill Skitter's cell are outside of my control and I need YOUR authorisation to shut down the building's water supply even temporarily. Please give me permission to do so!"

"Right." Tagg leaned forward and entered his code into his computer, allowing Dragon full access into the PRT building again. He hadn't liked that she had had unlimited access under Piggot and Armsmaster, so he had made her install something that limited her access to non-critical areas of the building, a firewall that even she couldn't get past without asking permission. This incident would doubtlessly make her ask for it to be removed…with good reason, dammit.

"I'm in." Dragon concentrated and the sound of rapid typing was heard over the pickup before a scowl fell across her face. "Your code, as well as every PRT and Municipal code, has been locked out of the system hierarchy for the water systems…barring one. That code is for former Director Thomas Calvert."

"Shit!" Tagg cursed, "Miss Militia, grab the Wards, get down to the cells and break Skitter out of that cell!"

"On it." The bandana-masked woman replied as she strode out of the room.

 _With Skitter_

The water was up to my waist now and my voice was hoarse from shouting, my hands aching from hitting the glass. What kind of incompetent security did the PRT have that was circumvented so easily?!

Then again, Coil was nothing if not meticulous. If I had been in his place, this is _exactly_ the kind of thing I'd set up, just in case the person who was directly responsible for my death was ever caught by the PRT.

I actually giggled somewhat hysterically. Here I was, getting ready to drown or suffocate, and I was complimenting the planning skills of my murderer! It was nuts!

I was trapped…just as trapped as I had been in the damn locker. Trapped and goddamn helpless! I started to hyperventilate as the water level started reaching the bottom of my ribcage. Flashbacks to the locker started and I screamed in denial. I was Skitter, damn it! Leader of the Undersiders and one of the Warlords of Brockton Bay!

I. Want. **OUT**!

 _With Miss Militia and the Wards_

"So someone's trying to kill Skitter?" Weld asked, the Case 53 jogging along behind the incensed Protectorate Leader.

Vista, following behind him, looked upset. "Why? She surrendered!"

"No idea, but she is in danger of drowning." Miss Militia replied, her power forming into a Tinkertech weapon based on Shatterbird's power. "I need you all to secure Skitter once I break the door down. THEN we find out what the hell-"

 **Destination.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Trajectory.**

 **Agreement.**

 **Enhancement.**

 **Agreement. Expansion?**

 **Agreement. Growth?**

 **Agreement.**

 **Administration!**

Blinking blearily, Miss Militia picked herself off the ground with a groan, followed swiftly by the Wards. Kid Win helped Vista up and Weld looked at Miss Militia in confusion.

"What…was that?" he asked.

"When a Parahuman Triggers, any other Parahuman around them for at least a few meters collapses unconscious for a minute or so." The Protectorate member replied, "From what we know, Skitter Triggered when trapped in a small, confined space thanks to Shadow Stalker. Very similar to the situation she's in now, so…"

"Aw fuck." Kid Win moaned, "She's had a Second Trigger Event!"

"Let's move!" Miss Militia ordered, "If Skitter has Triggered again, then there's no telling how powerful she's gotten!"

Just then, the sound of glass breaking could be heard from behind the door into the Standard Parahuman Containment Cell Wing before it was slammed open by a deluge of water that flooded the corridor.

"Aw hell." Weld cursed mildly as Skitter, soaked to the bone but very much alive, strode out of the cell block. She looked _pissed_.

"So is this how the PRT handles Parahumans who surrender to them?" she asked, glaring through her domino mask at the Wards, "Drowning them? I can just see the PR scandal…"

"Stand down, Skitter." Miss Militia ordered, "The PRT had nothing to do with what happened to your cell."

"Bzzt! Wrong!" Skitter replied, "A man who worked for both the PRT and Coil did this, calls himself 'Coiled.' He walked right up outside my cell, told me why he was killing me and then waltzed on out without a care in the world. Jeez. Even AFTER Coil's removed from the picture, you people can't keep your place clean of moles and spies. I have decided that it is too hazardous to my health to remain in your custody, so I will be leaving."

"That...isn't an option." Miss Militia stated slowly, her weapon reforming into a basic pistol, "I will promise you that whoever it was that did this will be found and tried for attempted murder, but I must ask that you submit to lawful custody."

"Tried that…didn't seem to do much for my long term plan of 'not dying,' so now I'm on my way outta here."

"You do realise that you are completely isolated here." Vista pointed out, "And up against all of us. You can't win."

"Tell me, how did you guys do against Mannequin? I kicked his ass." Skitter shot back as she assumed a combat stance, "Granted, I had my swarm with me, but as soon as Coiled showed up, I put out the call."

From the air ducts in the corridor, cockroaches, flies, beetles and other nasty bugs swarmed, crawling and hovering on and around the bug controller. It was a pitiful amount when compared to normal, and Kid Win couldn't help but point this out.

"Ah, but I've picked up a few new…tricks…just recently. Just in case you guys hadn't noticed." Skitter gestured once and a single cockroach advanced on them. Then, it started to grow to monstrous proportions, soon becoming large enough to take up most of the corridor.

"Now then," Skitter said, a smirk growing on her face, "Let's dance, shall we?"

 **This is something I've wanted to write for a while; Skitter Second Triggering. And taking after Bitch in a way.**

 **Master: 10 (Able to control any insect or other creature above and below a certain size and brain size. Range Post-Second Trigger is double that of her Initial Trigger, so six square blocks. Is also able to enlarge and empower her minions to stupidly enormous sizes. Example being empowering a cockroach from the average size of 4cm to the size of an average minivan. Has a limit to how many insects can be enlarged in this fashion, but that number is at least fifty. If used on Atlas, it can grow a digestive system for him.)**

 **Thinker: 5 (Able to use the minds of her insect minions to increase her processing speed. Also able to sink her mind into the swarm to dampen or muffle her emotions. Also able to instantly know the special characteristics of any insect at a glance.)**

 **Brute: 3 (Empowered with strength enough to shatter hardened shatterproof glass in a single hit. Is also able to tank hits that would kill an ordinary human. When clad in her costume, her Brute rating is upped by one point to include its defensive capabilities.)**


	11. Loading

Waking up in the hospital after a psychotic break as a result of being locked in a tiny locker full of waste was kinda expected. I had, if not accepted the fact that it had happened to me, but acknowledged it.

What was worrying me _more_ than the fact I was in hospital after a psychotic break was the little blue screen floating in front of me right now. I had woken up, talked to my Dad and then fallen asleep after a small battery of tests by the doctors. Now I had awoken for the second time, minus my Dad, who had presumably gone back home to sleep or to do a late night work session at the Dockworker's Union.

Floating above my head right now was a blue screen with some writing on it.

 **You have slept in a hospital bed! Your HP and PP have been fully restored!**

What the living hell? Had the Bitch Trio finally succeeded? Was I insane? For some reason, I didn't feel any panic or fear at the thought. Then again, did any mentally unbalanced person feel fear or panic at the realisation of their condition, if they ever did realise anything's wrong with them to begin with.

Before my eyes, the window closed, before another one opened.

 **Greetings! You have successfully survived your Trigger Event, gaining Parahuman powers with your sanity intact! You Gain 500EXP! You gain the Title 'Unnamed ad Unaffiliated Parahuman'! You have levelled up to Level Five! You have 25 Attribute Points to Spend! You have 15 Power Distribution Points to Spend!**

 **To continue, please close this window by pressing the 'X' in the top right-hand corner.**

Dubiously, I reached out and closed it, my hand surprisingly strong considering I had been bedbound for five days. I twitched slightly as another window replaced the one I closed.

 **This 'screen thing' is a part of your power. Very basically, you have received an Empowered Shard. This holds two powers. The first is that of The Gamer Shard, while the second is the Queen Administrator Shard.**

 **To start the tutorial on how to use this power, close this window, then say 'Status' aloud.**

I stared at the window for a moment. I had powers? Like I'd always wanted? It took a moment to realise that, unwittingly, Sophia, Emma and Madison had done me a huge favour. One that would make them sick to their stomachs if they ever realised it.

" **[** _ **Status**_ **]** " I said softly after closing the window, prompting another window to appear.

 **Name: Taylor Hebert**

 **Class: The Gamer/Queen Administrator**

 **Title 1: Unnamed and Unaffiliated Parahuman**

 **Title 2: The Locker Girl**

 **Job 1: Student**

 **Job 2: Parahuman (No Alignment or Affiliation)**

 **Shard: Gamer/Queen Administrator**

 **Level: 5| Next Level: 250**

 **Strength: 12**

 **Toughness: 10**

 **Dexterity: 14**

 **Intelligence: 25(?)**

 **Wisdom: 30(?)**

 **Charisma: 10 (?)**

 **Luck: 5**

 **Available Attribute Points: 25**

 **Special Status: Near-sighted (Requires glasses or corrective lenses to see properly), Thinker ? (+? To WIS and INT per level), Master ? (+? To CHA per level)**

 **Perks: Resilient Spirit (+25 to all checks against Spirit), Book Smart (Easier to accrue points to INT and WIS), Moral (+15 to the result of any [Heroic] Action taken).**

 **Flaws: Mistrustful (-15 to civilian relationship gains), Socially Awkward (-15 to civilian relationship gains).**

 **Taylor Hebert is a fifteen-year-old girl who has suffered many hardships in the past two years, from losing her mother in a car crash, to being betrayed by her former best friend and being bullied since the start of her first year at Winslow. Despite the suffering she has undergone, she perseveres and refuses to give her tormentors the satisfaction of having her lash out at them.**

I read the text in silence and was slightly disturbed to see my stats just laid out like that. Worse, I had no real comparison. Was having a luck value of five average or below average?

I focussed on the 'Special Status' section, specifically the Master and Thinker classifications. Those, I knew, were two of the power categories that Parahumans fell under. Masters were Parahumans who had control over something, whether it is swarms of bees or other humans. Thinkers were a very nebulous area, where all mental abilities and other not immediately visible powers. This included enhanced senses, super deduction, precognition and other things of that nature.

Looking again at the name of the 'shard' I possessed, I wondered what the 'Queen Administrator' portion of my abilities was, as the part that belonged to the 'Gamer' part was fairly obvious.

As another window popped open, I sighed. Evidently I'm going to be schooled in the use of my power…useful.

 **This screen displays your titles, level, Attributes, special status, perks and flaws. These will be expanded upon later.**

 **To continue, close this screen and open the Parahuman Power screen by saying 'Powers.'**

After doing so, another screen popped up.

 **Skill** **Trees**

 **1** **st** **: Queen Administrator Skills and Abilities**

 **2** **nd** **: Gamer Skills and Abilities**

 **3** **rd** **: General Skills**

 **4** **th** **: Combat Skills**

 **Available Power Points: 15**

 **Please select which tree to view.**

I was about to, when another window popped up.

 **This screen allows you to view your skill trees. This allows you to purchase and upgrade your powers using Power Points, or PP. Let's start off by purchasing a skill in the [Gamer] section. Enter this screen now by pressing it or speaking aloud.**

After I pressed the button, the screen grew small circles with lines interconnecting them all over it. At the bottom, two circles were lit up, while three more were darkened. Above them, the next row was greyed out.

 **The two skills that you have access to are also fully upgraded. First is the [Gamer's Mind], which makes you immune to fear, terror, hypnosis and any psychological mass effect. Second, the [Gamer's Body], which makes your body like it would be in a video game. You cannot lose limbs unless a skill is specifically designed to do so and you have Hit Points, or HP, to represent your overall health. Additionally, you regain health by sleeping and cannot lose muscle mass due to immobility over an extended period of time.**

 **Now, the other skills that you can purchase, [Inventory], [See, But Don't Be Seen] and [Observe] are the ones you should focus on first. To purchase them, press them and a description of the skill will pop up, along with a confirmation request.**

 **Try purchasing the [See, But Don't Be Seen] Skill now.**

Frowning, I pressed the skill that the thing was talking about, the circle having the symbol of an eye within it.

 **[See, But Don't Be Seen] (Level 1, Max Level:5)**

 **This skill prevents people outside of your party from viewing you interacting with your Gamer interface. At its maximum evolution, [See, But Don't Be Seen] can let you fade into the background whenever you please, rendering you all but invisible to normal humans. Parahumans will still be able to spot you, however.**

 **Do you wish to purchase this skill for [1] Power Point?**

 **Yes/No**

My eyes widened at this. It was perfect for me to use to evade The Trio once I levelled it up! Eagerly, I hit 'Yes' and the screen vanished, with another popping up to confirm the purchase of my new skill.

 **Well done. Now you don't have to worry about people watching you swipe and poke your hands in mid-air like a crazy person.**

 **At this time, I would advise you to purchase both [Observe], which will let you view the stats of other people, and [Inventory], which grants you a small hammerspace pocket to store items in.**

 **Once you have done so, please return to the skill tree screen by pressing the left arrow in the top left hand corner and then entering the Queen Administrator skill tree.**

My eyes, already wide, expanded to the size of dinner plates. First a Stranger power, and now Thinker and Shaker powers?! What the heck kind of broken power did I have?

Shakily, I did as asked and looked at the resulting tree. One circle, three times as large as the others, sat lit up at the bottom and I blinked at the three names surrounding it, along with the picture, that of a stylised fly.

 **Entomopathy.**

 **Volukinesis.**

 **Insect Control.**

I had suffered through all of that crap to get control of bugs?!

In irritation, I stabbed the picture and viewed the small screen that appeared as a result.

 **Anthropod Control (Level 1)**

 **Range: Three City Blocks (990 feet x 990 feet)**

 **Creatures able to be controlled: Flies, Cockroaches, Beetles, Bees, Hornets, Crabs, Earthworms, Spiders, Weevils, Butterflies, Caterpillars, Moths, Grasshoppers, Mantises, Ladybirds, Locusts, Lobsters, Scorpions and other small brained creatures.**

 **Creature Control Number Limit: None.**

 **Control: Below Average**

Holy. Crap. This was way more powerful than I was anticipating!

 **As you can see; your power as a Parahuman is fairly powerful, despite the seemingly weak medium it has chosen to take. If you direct your attention to the two lines running out from the main Insect Control hub, you will see that you have a choice of which to purchase.**

 **First, you have Sensory Linking, which will allow you to link to the senses of some or all of the insects that you are controlling. This will let you use their senses to scout using your bugs.**

 **Secondly, you have Arachnid Tinkering. This will allow you to use spiders to create items using their silk and chitin.**

 **It is advised that you purchase both of these immediately and then upgrade your main power to level two. This will reduce you to ten Power Points, which you will be able to spend as you wish in the General Skills and Combat skills sections.**

 **Enjoy.**

I hurriedly did as asked and then had a quick glance through the other two sections. There were hundreds of skills ready to be learned, all at my fingertips.

A smile slowly crept across my face. I was going to be a hero. And Sophia, Emma and Madison could take a long walk off a short pier.

 **My preferred way to write a Gamer Crossover story is to adapt it to that world. For evidence of that, my works Naruto: The Game of Life and Issei – The Gaming Gear are proof of that, if you wanna check them out. In this world, I have basically decided on a 'no magic' policy. Just skills and Parahuman powers.**


	12. At One with Your Weapons

I was lounging around the house when it happened. I had just been released from hospital the previous day, and boy was I _pissed_. I had been shoved in a locker full of filth and had a psychotic break when I was let out three or four hours later.

As had become the norm for me, the school was no help. Apparently, no one had seen anything to do with who had pushed me into the damn locker, so they were trying to hush things up and sweep it under the rug.

Like all things done by the Trio.

I sighed and stood up, deciding to go and start on dinner for when Dad got home from the Dockworker's Union. I had all the ingredients for Mom's recipe lasagne and I thought we could use something to cheer us up after the last week.

Heading into the kitchen, I started preparing the ingredients. When I reached into a drawer for a fork, my hand brushed against a chef's knife and it vanished!

Staring in disbelief, I looked under the drawer, on the off chance that it had somehow fallen beneath the drawer. Nope, no dice.

Great. I must need to go back to the funny farm, as I just _imagined_ my knife into going missing. Maybe I can _imagine_ it back with a wave of my hand?

Mockingly sweeping my hand in a lazy wave, I then yelped as the knife came hurtling out of my palm and slammed into the kitchen work surface, embedding itself there.

"Holy fuck…" I muttered.

I hurried up and threw the lasagne together, put it in the oven and set the timer. Then I sat down and freaked out. It took me five minutes or so to calm down, then I started thinking.

The knife hadn't vanished…I'd absorbed it. Then, I'd ejected it at high speed from my body.

I was a Parahuman!

After calming down from that revelation, I decided to experiment. I had sucked in a knife just by touching it. What else could I absorb?

Pulling on gloves, I laid out some things that I grabbed randomly from around the house; a pen, paperclip, the same knife from before, a butter knife and a few other odds and ends.

Removing one glove, I touched each item in turn and was disappointed to discover that the only thing absorbed was the same knife from before. So sharp bladed items were what I could absorb then.

A thought struck me as I ejected the knife; what about guns?

I crept into Dad's room and pulled out his old Charter Arms .44 Bulldog. He'd bought it, over Mom's protests, when the Empire 88 and ABB had started to get rough, but he'd never so much as taken it out of the box it was sold in.

Staring at it for a moment, I reached out with my uncovered hand and touched it with one finger. In a beat, it was gone, as were the five bullets that had been preloaded in the chambers. How had I known that it had been loaded?

Time to experiment.

 _A Week Later_

Over the last week, I had conducted some experiments, and it turned out that I had acquired an _awesome_ ability.

I could absorb anything that I could conceive of being used as a weapon. Knives, pistols, blackjacks, clubs, assault rifles, swords…you name it, I could absorb it. How did I know about the things that weren't in my house?

I ripped off the Merchants. Or, well, _a group_ of the Merchants, anyway. Dressed in black clothes and a balaclava, I had snuck out of the house and followed a group of them back to one of their arms caches, and then gone in and absorbed as many weapons as I could.

Turns out though, I could only absorb one of each kind of projectile weapon; one pistol, one rifle, etc. etc. Fortunately, my power seemed to class 'pistol' handguns and 'revolver' handguns as separate weapon types, so I had plenty inside me.

Another useful aspect was that I could transform parts of my body into muzzles for the guns and fire them. I could make myself a literal hand-gun. The same applied to bladed weapons. Edward Scissorhands, eat your heart out.

My control of my power was still sketchy, as I could only focus on manifesting one weapon at a time, but that was again restricted to guns. I could absorb as many knives as I wanted and expel them or change my body parts into them as I pleased.

Another very useful thing about my powers was the fact that whenever I absorbed then spat out a weapon, it came out cleaned and in far better condition than when it was absorbed. I had discovered this with the Merchant's weapons, as the gang of druggies had no concept of prober weapons maintenance, thus the guns and knives were filthy. I had ejected them all when I reached my basement and they had emerged polished, oiled, sharpened and what have you. Very useful.

I was currently trying to figure out my costume. Fingerless gloves were a given, as I would be turning my fingers into guns or knives depending on the situation, but the rest was up in the air. Ideally, I would wear a Tinkertech-made fabric that regenerated cuts and punctures, but as I had neither the connections nor the money to buy such things, I would just have to make do with old clothes for the moment.

I had also been granted an instinctive understanding of ballistics; in other words, as long as I had a gun absorbed, I could fire with reasonable accuracy with that weapon. It also seemed to me that I was getting more accurate very quickly.

I had taken to coming out here, to the Boat Graveyard, in order to practice my powers. Ammunition I used sparingly, but I was running low on pistol ammo already, so I would have to raid the Merchants again soon for that.

The weapons I had absorbed included: a dozen butterfly knives, two bowie knives, a Colt Official Police .38, a M1911A1 pistol, a Winchester Model 37 Shotgun, an AK-74 assault rifle, a blackjack, a M4 Carbine and a katana, presumably stolen from a member of the ABB. Quite the little armory I had here.

I extended my hand and concentrated. My hand blurred, morphed and then changed into the business end of the AK-74. This was the awkward thing about using my transformation ability with the bigger weapons; I had to use my entire hand, which fortunately included any gloves I was wearing.

Bracing my arm, I mentally gently pulled the trigger, spraying the rough circle I was using as a target on the hull of the ship I was in with bullets. Something I was glad about was the fact that I seemed to have no problem absorbing large numbers of bullets and magazines. I had cleared the cache I had raided of bullets, which I would imagine made Skidmark pissed. Meh. I could care less about his opinions.

Restoring my hand to normal, I then manifested the katana, testing out places for it to manifest, from between my knuckles, to on top of one of my knuckles, to emerging from my palm before finally settling on it emerging from the back of my hand. Progress with learning how to use the sword was slower than with learning how to use guns, but it was coming along OK from what I gathered. At least I wasn't cutting myself with it…not that I could be cut.

The last little benefit of my powers was ever so useful; regular cutting and piercing attacks do not affect me. Literally. I accidentally cut my leg the first time I had tried to wield the sword and while the fabric of my pants had been cut, there wasn't a mark on my skin. I suspect that this applies to bullets as well, but I wasn't willing to test this out unless the circumstances were dire.

Speaking of dire, I had no idea what to call myself. Arsenal was taken by a Tinker in New Orleans, Stockpile was lame and Magazine made me sound like a paper controller. What else was there?

"Armory…yeah, that sounds cool." I mused with a grin before checking out the mental list I had for my stockpiles of ammo in my internal magazine. I was down to two clips of ammo for the M1911A1, twelve rounds for the Official Police revolver, three clips for the carbine, twelve shells for the shotgun and one clip for AK-72.

Time to 'requisition' more ammo from the Merchants.

 **Something I thought would be cool. Go figure. Reviews really would be appreciated for this one.**

 **Breaker: 2 (While not changing physically, Taylor is able to negate the use of cutting or piercing weapons used against her. Bludgeoning weapons are more effective. Able to absorb any bullets that strike her and use them in her weapons.)**

 **Changer: 4 (Able to turn almost any part of her body into a weapon she has absorbed into her hammerspace with her Striker ability. These changed parts do not harm her if struck, but if sufficient damage is dealt to them, they will be ejected from her body.)**

 **Brute: 2 (Slightly stronger and more resilient than the average human, medium regeneration factor)**

 **Striker: 5 (Able to absorb any item into her hammerspace to which she can reasonably apply the concept of 'weapon' to with the touch of a finger. Limited to a single weapon of that type, e.g. one assault rifle, one katana, etc., but can hold an unlimited amount of ammunition.)**

 **Shaker: 2 (Able to store weapons in this hammerspace until she needs to Change into them. Unknown how large it is. Hammerspace automatically brings any weapon absorbed into perfect working order and destroys and dirt brought in with them.)**

 **Thinker: 6 (Able to automatically recognise the name, dimensions, range and other capabilities of any weapon she absorbs. Able to learn how to use her absorbed weapons at a vastly accelerated pace, retaining those skills even if the weapon is removed from her hammerspace, with ranged weapons being easier to learn than close combat weapons. Has increased kinaesthesia and supernaturally good aim.)**


	13. Crystal Clear

"Why the hell are we just standing around like a bunch of morons while the Undersiders are in the bank?" Kid Win grumbled. The Tinker was floating on his hoverboard with his laser pistol out. Arrayed around him, spaced out, were the rest of the Brockton Bay Wards.

"Because the Youth Guard are a bunch of douche bags." Clockblocker answered flippantly.

"Cut the chatter people." Aegis said firmly, "The Undersiders are known as the Masters of Escape, so we have to be on our guard or they will get away."

"Aegis, your costume is way too tight." Clockblocker complained.

"Shut up, Clock." Aegis growled.

"Gallant, is that Glory Girl up there?" Vista asked, pointing at the white-clad figure standing atop the bank's roof.

"What the…oh, Vicky." The armoured hero groaned, pulled out a cell phone and hit a speed dial. After rapidly talking for a minute, he hung up and reported, "Apparently Panacea is in the bank. Glory Girl won't leave while she's in danger."

"Oh, for the love of…!" Aegis groaned, "This cannot get any more complicated."

"Are things usually like this?" Browbeat asked. The point-blank telekinetic was the newest addition to the roster and was a true-blue greenhorn. Still, it was better to have him along than Shadow Stalker, who had a serious hate-on for Grue, the leader of the Undersiders.

"Aegis to Control, ETA to the arrival of the Protectorate?" Aegis asked, ignoring the rookie.

" _ETA is fifteen minutes, Aegis._ " The person taking his request replied, " _Sit tight and await Protectorate and PRT reinforcements._ "

"Roger that, Control." Aegis sighed. Sometimes, the Youth Guard's determination to keep the Wards from being child soldiers made their job harder than it needed to be. Who knows what the Undersiders were doing with all the free time that they were being handed here?

When the bank doors slammed open and darkness descended around Vista and Clockblocker, Aegis groaned again. Now he knew what they were up to; they were devising a plan.

 _Third-Person POV_

Three monstrous dogs bounded out of the bank and leapt upon the person wearing Clockblocker's uniform, tearing into him with ravening fangs. The person who usually dealt with such things, Vista was cut off in the cloud of darkness that was Grue's creation.

Sprinting out on the heels of the dogs were Hellhound and Grue. The female Parahuman went to stand near her dogs, while Grue leapt into his darkness. The next person to come out caught the attention of Kid Win and Gallant.

It was a person wearing shining green armour made out of an opaque green glass-like substance. In one hand, a spear was clutched, tipped with what looked like a huge diamond. In the other, he held a shield made of what looked like onyx.

"Who the hell is that?" Kid Win wondered.

"Must be a new member." Gallant replied, "Oh crap! He's looking towards you!"

Indeed, the figure had turned to look at Kid Win and was brandishing his spear at him. Gallant's jaw dropped as several spheres of diamond appeared in front of the man and flew at his Tinker teammate. Kid Win dodged them and tried to shoot them down with his laser, but the spheres absorbed his energy and fired it back at him, destroying his hoverboard.

"Shit!" Gallant cursed and blasted the man with his Blaster ability, but a wall of crystal appeared in mid-air to block it. A Geokinetic? A Crystallokinetic? Something like that.

With a seemingly negligent wave of his weapon, the armoured figure sent a wave of crystal spikes erupting out of the ground at him, forcing the armoured empath to dodge to the side, only to be suddenly stricken by a spasm in his legs, allowing the crystal guy to wrap Gallant in rock-hard crystal.

Kid Win, in the meanwhile, had been dodging the attacking spheres of diamond and making a mental note to invest in some non-laser Tinkertech weaponry, especially some close combat weaponry. Eventually, his luck ran out and they wrapped him up in a glittering cocoon from neck to feet.

"Let GO of my boyfriend!" Glory Girl snarled as she sped down towards the armoured figure.

Looking up at Glory girl, the unknown Cape leapt to the side at the last moment and Glory Girl punched the ground, causing a small earthquake. Seemingly out of nowhere, a pair of crystalline wings erupted from the figure's back and took them to the sky, pursued by Glory Girl.

"Let's go while Glory Hole is occupied by Alexandrite!" a purple and black clad girl said as she hurried a white-clad figure out of the bank. Grue emerged from his cloud of darkness and dispelled it, revealing the frozen figures of Vista and Clockblocker. He had somehow tricked the time stopper to use his striker ability on both Vista and himself at the same time.

"Can she handle her, Tattletale?" he asked in his echoing voice.

The one called Tattletale gave a vulpine smirk. "Oh yes."

Above the fleeing villains, Alexandrite was blasting the Alexandria package with a barrage of crystal shards. Every few seconds, Glory Girl dodged the attacks for a period of time before renewing her assault.

"I see." A female voice came from the armoured figure of Alexandrite, surprising Glory Girl, "You aren't a real Alexandria package; you have a forcefield that wraps around your body to grant you your invulnerability and strength. The flight part of your powers is independent of that; otherwise you would plummet like a stone every time I overpowered your barrier. A pseudo-Alexandria type, eh?"

Victoria Dallon frowned. No villain had ever seen through her forcefield before, but she wasn't concerned about it. She was not someone to let such a thing get to her.

"So what if you know about my forcefield?" Glory Girl challenged, "You can't beat me even if you know!"

"I wonder about that?" the figure said, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Alexandrite and you are about to lose."

"You named yourself after Alexandria?" Glory Girl asked with a frown.

"No, after the precious gem." Alexandrite replied irritably. She broke her spear in half and used her power to transform the separate halves into diamond swords.

"Do you really think swords can do anything to me?" Glory Girl taunted.

"Ones that are as sharp as a razor's edge and harder than steel, yes." Alexandrite replied as she pointed her weapons at her opponent, "Now be ready!"

"Bring it, bitch!" Glory Girl sneered.

"No, Bitch is my teammate." Alexandrite mocked her back before flapping her wings and bombarding her with more crystal shards as a distraction so she could make a sneak attack, slamming both swords into the hero's side and sending her flying, then following up with a kick that made the teen Parahuman scream with pain as she was sent tumbling to the ground.

Fortunately for Glory Girl, her forcefield kicked in before impact and she was saved from further injury when she struck the ground, although it did create a crater on the asphalt of the road. Alexandrite covered the helpless heroine's body in a thick layer of crystal, three times the thickness of Gallant's prison, before taking flight once again, speeding out of sight on her diamond wings.

 _Later_

 _Undersiders Base_

"Whoo! That was awesome!" Alec cheered as he took his mask off.

"We actually kicked the Wards' asses." Brian shook his head in disbelief.

"We caught them off guard." Lisa corrected them, "They won't underestimate us a second time. Plus, they now know some information about us. Well, about you, Rachel and Taylor at least. Alec and I kept inside the bank for the most part. Alec only interfered with Taylor's fight with Gallant and that was through a window, so they should have almost no information on us."

"I'm going to feed my dogs." Rachel grunted and led Angelica, Judas and Brutus to their kennels.

"I hope Taylor got away from Glory Girl." Brian said with a concerned look on his face.

"I did." the girl of the moment answered, strolling into the loft wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans and trainers. No signs remained of the villain Alexandrite.

"I take it you made sure to eliminate all traces of your crystal?" Lisa asked knowingly.

"Yup. Flew into the sewer and triggered the dissolving effect." Taylor confirmed as she sat next to Alec, "Every trace of my crystals within a kilometre should be gone. Glory Girl's gonna be pissed when she gets over that concussion I gave her."

"Hmm...a faux-Alexandria-type, eh?" Lisa mused, "Well, she'll be over any injury by now; Panacea is her sister, after all."

"Point." Taylor nodded, "So what now? Celebrate?"

"Hell yeah!" Alec said, "Pizza?"

"No Alec!" Brian replied automatically, "We get pizza all the time. How about Chinese or Indian?"

The rest of the time in the loft was spent arguing about what to order for dinner.

 **Not one of my better ones, I must admit. As Taylor said above, Alexandrite is a type of gemstone. Named after Tsar Alexander the Second, for those who are interested.**

 **Note: Alexandrite's default crystals are alexandrite and diamond. Other crystals can be made, but takes concentration to create.**

 **Shaker: 6 (Able to create crystalline formations at will within twenty metres of herself. The formations can be any shape and size she desires from orbs to swords to humanoid golems. She can emit a special pulse to shatter any of her own creations within a kilometre of her current position.)**

 **Striker: 4 (Able to enhance her strikes with the ability to cover the enemy in a layer of crystal to impede their movements and bind them. Can also cover hands in spikes to increase punching power.)**

 **Mover: 2 (Able to grow wings to fly with, as well as using platforms of crystal to hover on.)**

 **Blaster: 6 (Able to fire a ray that can crystallise anyone or anything it strikes. Also able to fire crystals from any crystalline surface in close proximity to her body.)**

 **Breaker/Brute: 3 (Able to shift into a body completely made out of crystals. Should the body become damaged, healing via crystal absorption is possible. Treated as being (Brute: 3) while in this form due to enhanced strength and resilience.)**


	14. Sunny Side Up

Taylor relaxed in her bed, with the window and curtain open and the sun shining down on her. She didn't know why, but she felt far better in the sun ever since The Locker. Maybe it was a reaction to being locked in a dark, dank locker for several hours, but she found delight in the sun that made her relax and feel strong and she wouldn't question why.

Humming happily, she sat up and decided to go for a walk. She still had several hours until she had to start studying since she had been pulled out of Winslow by a very angry Danny Hebert after the administration at Winslow pulled yet another ostrich impersonation and buried their heads in the sand, pretending that nothing had happened to her.

' _Ha. Eat it, Emma. I'm away from you and you can't do anything about it!_ ' the bespectacled teen thought with a snort.

Taylor got ready to go out, grabbed the pepper spray that her Dad had bought her for self-protection and headed out to do a bit of window-shopping at the Broadwalk.

As she headed down the street, Taylor grimaced when she saw the Empire 88 and ABB gang tags at the foot of the street. This wasn't good. Whenever the E88 and the ABB started cross-tagging a street, it was only a matter of time before gang fights broke out between the low level thugs of each gang. It would then escalate until Oni Lee was called in on the ABB's side, which would make the E88 dispatch Purity or the Fenja/Menja duo to counter him. The next thing you knew, Lung was stomping down the street.

' _I'd better tell Dad when he gets home._ ' She though uneasily as she walked past the tags.

Once she got to the Broadwalk, Taylor relaxed a bit. The Broadwalk was the civilised shopping area in Brockton Bay and was one of the few places she could go without getting an overprotective Dad chaperoning her everywhere.

After checking out the clothes (way too expensive and revealing), she bought herself lunch at Fugly Bob's before wandering over to the brick-a-brac shops and browsed them to see if there was anything cheap she could buy to replace the increasingly worn items at home.

She did manage to score a new cookbook at a second-hand bookshop, but nothing else was worth her money. At least she could cook something nice for her dad in the next few months.

On her way back home, Taylor noticed she was feeling…bloated, for lack of a better description. Not as in trapped gas, but something else. Something more troubling. Hurrying now, she got to her house quickly. Shutting the front door behind her, she slid to the floor as the sensation of being ready to burst started to come from within her.

' _Wh…what's going on?!_ ' Taylor thought in fright. She scrambled to her feet and looked around in a panic. No sign of her dad, which was good.

Making her way to the basement, so she'd do no damage to the house if she, for whatever reason, spontaneously combusted as it felt like she was going to do, Taylor tried to figure out what the heck was going on here. This had all started when she had gone outside for the first time since getting out of the hospital. Could her recent attraction to sunlight have anything to do with this?

A thought occurred to her, but she kept it locked up in case it proved to be wrong. Raising one arm and pointing it at the empty back wall of the basement, she reached inside of herself and _pushed_ some of that pressure out of her via her hand.

A shining golden yellow beam shot from her hand and pierced the wall. Taylor yelped in shock and cut off the power to the beam, making it disappear at once. She stared blankly at the wall, which was black and charred around the point of impact, and absently tried to figure out how to conceal the signs of her first use of her powers.

Powers. She was a Parahuman.

A grin crossed Taylor's face as she muttered, "Well then…time to figure out what I can do…elsewhere."

 _Two Weeks Later_

Taylor grinned as she blasted a ship's hull from the inside. The Boat Graveyard was a hell of a useful place to practice flashy skills in secret, and boy did she have a flashy skillset.

As far as she could tell, Taylor possessed the power to control solar energy. Just be having her bare skin exposed to the sunlight, even just her head and hands, she absorbed power like a sponge. The more she stored, the more she could use. If she didn't use the stored energy for about a week, it would start to demand to be used, resulting in that bloated feeling from two weeks ago.

She could, if she wanted, increase her reserves by 'refining' the solar energy she stored within herself, discharging the rest from her mouth. The downside was that the discharged excess energy was like a flamethrower on steroids, to the point that it melted through steel as if it was butter. She figured that the fact it didn't hurt her coming out meant that either she was immune to her own power or that she was immune to fire-type abilities.

The hand beam she had pulled off in her basement was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to her offensive abilities. She could surround herself in an aura of solar energy that disguised her, protected her and empowered her. While it was active, she was stronger and more resilient to damage and, as it was a blinding golden yellow colour, functioned as a very good disguise.

She still wore a balaclava, just in case.

A recent development had shown her that she had the ability to see into the ultraviolet range and even project UV light from her eyes. It did make killing insects rather easy once she figured out how to alter the spectrum that her eyes emitted. She could also see where blood and other bodily fluids had been spilled, which made walking down the streets where there had been a lot of gang-related violence somewhat queasy.

The only other thing she had discovered was that she could alter her gravity, allowing her to fly, which was seriously cool. She could even add extra weight to her punches and kicks using it, but that seemed to be the limit with gravity.

The most recent discovery was that she could covert her solar energy into a beam of healing energy. Taylor had fired it at a cat by mistake and been startled to see that the torn ear that it had had was restored almost instantly before the feline fled.

Taylor wanted to be a hero, so the fact she could heal was good. Healers were always in demand; Panacea was a good example as she spent almost every waking hour outside of school at the hospitals in Brockton bay, and the list of patients never ended.

Still, she had no idea if her abilities worked on herself. There was only one way to find out, so it was with great reluctance that she used a knife to cut the palm of her hand and then directed her healing ray at it. Much to her relief, the cut healed, shrank and scarred over almost instantly, disappearing entirely after a few more seconds of application.

Disposing of the knife, an old one she had found in one of the ship's cabins, Taylor now had two things to consider; namely what she should make her costume look like and what her name should be.

Running through her memory, there was one Cape, a villain, who had a name to do with the sun. She was called Sundancer, if memory served her correctly. She wanted to avoid sounding like that one then.

Fortunately enough, having a mother as an English Professor had a few advantages, a large vocabulary being among them. Taylor flipped through a book that talked about the sun and its effect on the Earth until she caught sight of a description of the area affected by the Sun's heat, the heliosphere.

Heliosphere…yeah, that sounded good.

It was as Taylor was walking home that she heard the sounds of a gang fight…right at the end of her street. Oh no. No way in _hell_ was she going to let these gangbangers and skinheads tear up her neighbourhood.

Moving into an alley, she pulled her balaclava back over her head and her gloves onto her hands. Taylor 'felt' for the energy within her and felt that she had more than enough to take care of a bunch of gangers. She just hoped that none of the Empire's Capes showed up.

Clenching her fists, Taylor engaged her solar aura and Heliosphere soared into the skies on her first sortie as a Cape.

 _3_ _rd_ _Person Perspective_

The ten gangers from the ABB had been jeering and taunting the ten thugs of the Empire 88 for a good ten minutes now and things were getting towards a good old fashioned street brawl. Members of the Empire were fitting knuckledusters and pulling out clubs, while the ABB were mostly unarmed, but the self-appointed leader of the group had a katana.

"Hold it!" a female voice shouted just before the first step was taken to start the fight.

All eyes widened as a figure clad in golden light floated above the street. Whoever it was, she was tall and was too bright to look at properly. There was one thing that the Empire thugs knew.

"Who the fuck are you?! You ain't Purity!" one shouted.

"Give the man a prize." The figure stated dryly, " _Obviously_ I'm not Purity. The name's Heliosphere, and you boys caught my attention. Why don't you all mosey on elsewhere and not disturb the peace of this neighbourhood any more than you already have. If you do not, there will be… _trouble_."

There was silence as the ABB and E88 thugs eyed each other and Heliosphere before they all turned on the hero as one.

"I guess I should have expected this." Heliosphere sighed, "Too smart to be merchants, too dumb to know when to run away."

With a chorus of shouts of challenge, the two gangs charged at the floating Cape with their weapons raised. Heliosphere countered by blasting them with golden yellow rays that sent the first half-a-dozen guys flying into unconsciousness and the ground.

The ABB guy with the sword slashed at her, having used the front rank as decoys, but the blade couldn't pierce the radiance around her body. The flying Cape backhanded him, sending the sword flying and him knocked out.

"Bitch!" one man howled and unleashed a barrage of punches. Clearly he had experience with martial arts, but it did him no good as she didn't even flinch. He got a blast to the gut in reply that took him out of the fight.

The rest of the thugs and gangbangers saw how the tide was going and tried to run, but Heliosphere blasted them with her yellow rays, knocking them out.

"Whew…that took way more power than I was anticipating." Heliosphere muttered as she landed again, "Better tie up these guys and call this in."

As luck would have it, one guy had several coils of rope in his backpack, so she hogtied them all, using her energy rays set to a higher intensity to neatly cut it. She piled them up in two separate piled before grabbing a cell phone she had confiscated from one of the Empire thugs and dialled 911.

After telling the operator where several gangbangers and thugs could be found, including a pile of weaponry that was definitely illegal, she hung up and sped away to around the block and another alley where she shed her aura and balaclava to become Taylor Hebert once again.

"I'd better get home before Dad hears about the fight." she muttered. Slipping out of the alley, she started back to her street with a spring in her step. She had taken the first step on the path of becoming a hero AND she had stopped the two largest gangs in Brockton Bay from turning her street into a battleground.

Life was good.

 **I like this one. Not sure what you guys will think of it. And to The Halfa Wannabe, you can borrow my idea for Alexandrite. I would have told you in a PM, but you have them disabled.**

 **Shaker: 7 (Is able to absorb sunlight to power her abilities. Is able to project two different types of aura; one made of solar energy and one made of plasma. Is able to negate all types of radiation, and convert that radiation into solar energy, which is then absorbed. The radius of effect is unknown.)**

 **Blaster: 6 (Is able to fire solar beams with varying intensities. Is able to unleash a strong breath attack made from unrefined solar energy that can melt steel at the slightest touch. Is able to fire beams of healing energy. Can fire beams of UV light at varying intensity from her eyes.)**

 **Mover: 3 (Is able to manipulate her gravity, allowing flight and increased running speed.)**

 **Striker: 5 (Is able to add solar/plasma energy to her attacks, vastly increasing her attack power. Is able to manipulate gravity to increase the force of her punches and kicks.)**

 **Thinker: 2 (Is able to perceive the UV spectrum. Is able to manipulate her vision to turn it on and off at will and can see various levels of the spectrum.)**


	15. A Breath of Fresh Air

_Things became bad in Brockton Bay after Chakravartin and his gang, New Genesis, showed up._

 _Naming himself after the ancient Indian term for the ideal universal ruler, he was anything but his namesake. Cruel, ruthless and driven, he possessed the Parahuman power to create a dimensional bubble, one large enough to swallow Brockton Bay whole. When he did so, he banished and locked out anyone whom he did not want in the city. The PRT, the Protectorate, New Wave, the Empire 88, the ABB and the Merchants were all cast out, leaving only the Wards and the Brockton Bay Police Department to hide and presumably fight a guerrilla war against New Genesis._

 _It is unknown why he allowed the Wards and Police to remain, but a few Thinkers suspect it was conceit. He does not perceive Shadow Stalker, Gallant, Vista, Aegis, Clockblocker, Kid Win, Browbeat or the ordinary human members of the BBPD as threats. At this time, we can only hope that his opinion is wrong._

 _New Genesis has six members, not including Chakravartin (Shaker 10+) himself, including; Brahmastra (Mover/Blaster 7), Vritra (Changer 8, Blaster 3), Nāga (Master 6 [Serpents], Brute 4), Arjuna (Breaker 6, Blaster 4), Preta (Shaker 5, Master 4) and Manuṣya (Tinker 3 [Biotinker], Thinker 6)._

 _As Dragon, assisted by Armsmaster and as many Tinkers as the Protectorate can spare, hurry to build some way of penetrating the dimensional bubble around the Bay, it can only be hoped that progress is made soon, for the sake of those still locked in the Dimensional Bubble._

 _-Report on Incident 334562-4 (AKA, the Brockton Bay Bubble)_

 **WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

Taylor shivered as the wind (how was there still wind inside an impregnable bubble?) blew over her resting place. She had lost everything when Chakravartin and New Genesis had moved in…her house, her possessions…her father.

Her eyes burned as she remembered Vritra, a Changer who turned into some kind of rocky serpent the size of an eighteen wheeler, blasting her childhood home to smithereens with a powerful beam of some sort, killing her Dad, who had been inside it.

The only reason Taylor herself was still alive was because of her Parahuman power, one she had gained not a month before New Genesis showed up. It was, in her opinion, not a very good power. Certainly not good enough to fight New Genesis.

She could turn into air. As in, her entire body became all but immune to physical impacts. That was what had saved her from the destruction of her house; Vritra's lasers seemed to pass right through her harmlessly, as had bits of debris. Whoop-de-fucking-do. She was immune to being hit, but she couldn't attack.

Reflexively, she glared up at what had once been the PRT building, now known as the Varunapasha. It was decorated with gold and other precious metals looted from homes and businesses and had seven towers, one for each member of New Genesis. She didn't know why these bastards had come to her city, but she hated it that they had.

She stiffened as she heard the sound of hissing snakes that heralded the coming of the snake user, Nāga, a spindly little man who could control all snakes within his range, as well as pick up a car to throw it at a building as easily as he might pick up a pencil.

Standing up, Taylor hurried away from where she heard the snakes coming from. She had heard rumours from scattered groups of survivors that Nāga and Preta were gathering people for some reason…people who were never seen again after they vanished. Preta had the ability to drain energy from people within a certain distance of himself. Not to the point of killing them, but to the point of being unable to move and feeling oh so hungry.

Scuttling into the ruins of the building she had been sitting against, Taylor made her way to the remains of the second floor and peered out of the window. Striding down the street was Nāga, wearing only a loincloth and sandals, the sun (again, how was the sun getting into a sealed dimension?) gleaming off his bald head. He was at least fifty, possibly older, and wore a white domino mask.

Wrapped around him and slithering at his feet were an unknown number of snakes. All different types of snakes, modified by Manuṣya to not be cold blooded, slithered in his wake like a living carpet on the road. There were so many that she couldn't see the road's surface.

With a gulp, Taylor turned into her air form. She had evaded him before by slipping into this form as she generated no heat or scent as air, making it impossible to track her using snakes as they used scent and infrared vision to track prey. Plus, as she floated as air, the snakes couldn't use vibrations in the ground to track her either.

"The one who evades us has fled once again." Nāga reported into a radio he removed from the mouth of one of the snakes.

" _Lord Chakravakam grows impatient with this one evading us, Nāga._ " Preta's voice replied sharply, " _I have no desire for him to cast us into Naraka before it is our time, so get your overgrown worms to find the one who evades us!_ "

Judging by the rise of hissing from said oversized worms, Nāga didn't like that at all.

"The fault is not that of my pets and I!" he snapped back, "Whoever this Parahuman is, he or she has all the presence of a _Bhūta_! I can only find _traces_ of whoever it is! You have had as little success as I, so do not cast the blame solely on me!"

"I _only have my own two eyes and ears; you have those of your serpents._ " Preta replied smugly, " _The overwhelming burden of guilt lies with you. Do try and find this_ Bhūta _before tomorrow or we_ _will be punished._ "

Cursing in an odd language, Nāga stowed the radio again and started heading off, his serpentine minions following him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Taylor used the only part of her power that she liked and flew into the sky, locating the place that she had been heading to since the death of her father a week previously.

The Dockworker's Association Compound.

When the bubble had gone up, Chakravakam had sent out his gang, who struck ruthlessly at the heads of the civilian organisations in the city. The mayor, so scuttlebutt had it, had managed to get away safely, but almost every other high-ranking civilian government official and business leader had been killed. Even the leadership of the unions had been destroyed.

He had then set himself up as dictator and had conscripted various civilians into work gangs in order to convert the PRT building. As far as she knew, The Rig, the Protectorate base in the middle of the Bay, had been left alone, but it was only a matter of time before Vritra or Brahmastra was ordered to destroy it.

Floating down gently, Taylor touched down in the centre of the compound and looked around. There seemed to be no sign of any of New Genesis, but she elected to remain in her air form just in case. Floating towards the locked door of the main office of the Association, she burst into wind, seeping her way through the cracks between door and doorframe before reforming on the other side.

"If I were a criminal, this would make an excellent way to burgle people's homes." She muttered as she made her way through the darkened office building until she found what she was looking for; her father's office.

"'Union Representative, D. Hebert.'" Taylor read softly off the door before entering. The room was well lived in, as her Dad had spent a lot of time here over the years, but especially since her mother had died. The desk was neat, but sitting on the desk was the entire reason she had come here…the photograph of her family that she knew he kept here.

Taken a year before her mother had been killed in a car crash, she and her parents were standing in front of their now-destroyed home and smiling happily, unaware of the tragedy that would rend them apart such a short time later.

Returning to her normal form, she set about gathering what she could from the office that would be useful. Ever since the Empire 88 and ABB had entered a cold war state, her Dad had kept kits at his office and their home in case civil order broke down. Right now, Taylor didn't think civil order could break down any further without the Slaughterhouse Nine being present, so she was grabbing the one he had stored here.

In the closet, there was a rucksack filled with blankets, fire starting aids, a compass, and several other little things that would make surviving in the ruins of the Docks area far easier.

She also, rather reluctantly, went to the armoury that the Dockworkers had built up to resist the encroachment of the gangs and picked up a pistol, as well as several magazines of ammo, for self-defence. Taylor had never so much as fired a water pistol before, never mind a real gun, but these were desperate times and thus, desperate measures were needed.

Peering out of the windows as darkness fell across Brockton Bay, the girl decided that she'd catch some shuteye before moving on. Preta and Nāga seemed to instinctively know the general area of where she was, so staying in one place for longer than a day was not a good idea. Still, sleeping out of the wind and cold would be nice.

First things first.

She closed the door to her father's office, locked it from the inside and then pushed the desk in front of it. Unless the enemy was a Brute or a Blaster, the lock plus the desk should slow down any attempts to get in long enough for her to open a window and vanish in her air form.

Pulling out the sleeping bag that her Dad had used when working overnight sometimes, Taylor curled up in it and hugged the picture of her family to her chest. She fell asleep almost instantly.

When she woke up, it was to the sound of a beast roaring…one she would never forget.

"Vritra!" Taylor hissed in fury. Scrambling out of her sleeping bag, she peeked out of the window to see the form of the Changer, in the serpentine dragon form that she favoured, roaring and blasting at something…or some _one_ …at the edge of the Docks.

Who though? The PRT, Protectorate and New Wave had been banished by Chakravartin when the Bubble went up. Hell, so had most of the criminal Capes. Kaiser, Lung, Skidmark, all of them were gone. Who was left?

It didn't matter. If Vritra was after them, they were pretty much as good as dead…just like her father.

Pain spiked through her chest at that thought. She had been helpless to save her father, unable to do anything more than save herself. The three weeks' worth of practice hadn't shown her how to attack in her air form and so she was useless against Vritra. A pistol would be useless against her.

She looked down sharply as she heard a slight shrieking sound and saw that the air around her fist was writhing and almost visible as it twisted and swirled around her hand.

Taylor snorted. Obviously her power wanted to fight and was showing her what to do. Alternatively, she was going nuts and her mind was jumping to conclusions.

' _Either way…it's time to fight._ ' The Parahuman thought determinedly. Brockton Bay was _her_ home, _her_ city. These bastards thought that they could just waltz in and do as they pleased? Not from here on out. The buck stops here.

 _With Gallant_

"Vista, dodge to the right!" Dean shouted, prompting the youngest Ward to follow his order immediately, which saved her from being smashed by Vritra's tail.

"She's going to use her laser breath attack!" Tattletale of the Undersiders yelled from behind the wall she had taken cover behind.

"Stalker, try and put her eye out!" he ordered.

"What the fuck do you think I've been trying to do?!" the ex-vigilante snarled, "I only have a limited supply of these crossbow bolts and that damn monster keeps moving around so I've wasted three already!"

"Keep trying then!" Dean growled, "Regent, any luck?"

"Fucker barely feels anything I do!" the renaissance faire reject replied, "I'm taking cover!"

Pausing to blast the dragon with a blast loaded with depression, which did exactly nothing like all the other emotions had done, Dean cursed at how things had gone FUBAR. The Wards had joined up with the Undersiders as they, and the Rogue Parian, were the only Parahumans known to have not been excluded by the Bubble, although there had been a lot of friction between the Undersiders and Shadow Stalker before he and Aegis had put his foot down. Parian had joined up as well, but she was hidden in the sewers for the moment.

They had come up for the first time in a week to scout out the land and had had the misfortune to run in to Vritra in less than ten minutes. Kid Win and Aegis were knocked out or buried under rubble, Vista's power was disabled, probably thanks to being incompatible in an area under Chakravartin's power, and the rest of them were unable to do much more than irritate the Changer. Even Bitch/Hellhound's mutated dogs were only able to slightly wound the dragon. The only reason they had lasted this long was thanks to Tattletale's Thinker ability deducing weak spots in Vritra and Grue casting his darkness over the head every so on to give them a couple of seconds worth of breathing room.

It was only a matter of time before the rest of New Genesis showed up and then they would die. Dean had heard of what they had done to the civilians and knew that these people were like Nilbog and the Slaughterhouse Nine; they didn't obey the Unwritten Rules, so they would be killed.

As Vritra opened its mouth to fire another blast of its laser breath, a transparent sphere the size of a beach ball slammed into the side of it and exploded, sending the massive dragon flying into a nearby building.

Dean whirled around to see a girl, almost completely transparent and seemingly made up of air, floating in mid-air and generating another ball in her hands. Vritra roared and turned to face the new threat, unleashing a laser that went right through the floating girl without doing any kind of harm.

"Vritra! You will die here!" the girl yelled and held up her air orb, "This is for my Dad, you bitch!"

With a scream of hatred, she flung the orb at the Changer's face, just as the dragon opened its muzzle to fire another beam at her. It swallowed the orb and a few seconds later, it detonated, blowing the jaws off Vritra in an explosion of blood and gore.

Not being one to pass up an opportunity, Bitch ordered her dogs in while Vritra let out a muffled roar of agony. Bulked up to the size of rhinos and as ferocious as any big cat, the three beasts ripped in to the dragon with renewed vigour, with Dean and Shadow Stalker adding to the damage alongside the new girl.

"Get the dogs back! I'm going to finish her!" the air girl yelled. Bitch nodded and recalled her dogs with a high-pitched whistle. The newcomer hurled two air spheres at Vritra's head, the dragon unable to dodge thanks to the pain it felt. With a pair of loud explosions, Vritra's head blew up as the two orbs detonated nigh simultaneously.

As the corpse of the dragon flopped to the ground, it slowly reverted back to its human form, an Indian girl, completely naked and missing her head completely.

"This way!" the air girl hissed and beckoned them towards her.

"Clock, dig out Aegis." Gallant ordered, "I'll grab Kid Win."

The leader of the Wards was unearthed swiftly and the Undersiders and Wards followed the flying girl to a compound that had belonged to the Dockworkers Union. Scaling the wall was easy for the huge dogs and Shadow Stalker just phased through the wall.

"I'll open the door." The air girl said and vanished through the cracks in the door. A minute later, the door opened and they were ushered inside.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you for intervening." Aegis said as he sat on a chair in the lounge. The air girl had gone around and shut all of the blinds and curtains so they were reasonably safe from being spied upon, "Another few minutes and the rest of New Genesis would have been on us."

"Not Preta or Nāga." The girl said, "They've been hunting me for a week."

Dean's eyebrows shot up at that. "You've avoided the snake user and the drain field user for a week?"

"Nāga's snakes can't see, smell, taste or feel me in this form." She explained, "And Preta's a lazy bastard."

"Breaker or Changer, do you think?" Vista asked Clockblocker.

"Breaker. She still keeps a human form, unlike Brandish or that monster Vritra." Tattletale answered for him, "So what do we call you?"

The girl allowed the lower section of her face to become somewhat opaque again and smiled. "Call me...Anemoi."

 **For those of you who don't know, Anemoi was the collective name for the four Greek Gods of the Winds, as well as the lesser wind deities. Although the names of the villains here resemble those from Asura's Wrath, they are based in Indian mythology.**

 **As I put some effort into this one, I might write it. Then again, I might not. Something I think would be cool if someone wrote a 'Worm Characters read the possibilities of Taylor Hebert's powers' fic. Can you imagine Clockblocker in that? Funny as hell. If anyone wants to write that, PM me.**

 **Breaker: 8 (Able to shift into a form made completely of air and wind. Almost completely invulnerable in this form. Does not require air to breath and she essentially has no organs while in this state. Is able to freely alter the size of her form, from one inch high to Endbringer height.)**

 **Shaker: 6 (Able to generate shields and blasts of air over a large area.)**

 **Blaster: 6 (Able to use regular air blasts, as well as solidified blasts to cause more damage, cutting blasts that shred the target and create air explosives that send out shockwaves and cause serious damage.)**

 **Mover: 5 (Unable to touch the ground in her Breaker form, able to levitate and fly very rapidly. Able to teleport via the air to any location within her line of sight.)**

 **Stranger: 4 (Able to freely alter the transparency of her Breaker Form, from completely invisible to fully opaque. Able to become intangible and pass through anything not air-tight.**

 **Striker: 3 (Able to imbue her physical blows with solidity in her Breaker form, as well as adding cutting effects to them as well.)**


	16. Born of Blood

Getting Parahuman powers is a big thing, no matter what they are. Still, I really wish I had some other power than the one I received when I was locked in the locker.

My name is Taylor Hebert and I have the ability to create and control blood.

No, you didn't mishear. I can control blood. Before we go into that though, I should start at when I first discovered that I had powers.

I first twigged that something had changed since the locker when I accidentally cut my finger when preparing dinner for my Dad and I. I had been distracted by the sound of a car backfiring as it chugged along the street and my hand slipped. Next thing I knew, my forefinger had a cut across the breadth of it.

It hurt, obviously, but aside from that and the blood on the knife, nothing came out. No welling of blood or anything. Then, before my eyes, the cut sealed itself shut and even the scar faded to nothing, leaving clean, unblemished skin behind.

After I stopped having a panic attack, I finished dinner and made plans to go to the library the next day. I had some research to do.

My time at the library was…educational. I found out that I had no chance of being accepted into the Wards or Protectorate, as they only accepted photogenic, physically perfect and with 'acceptable and public friendly' powers.

Meaning a blood user was out of the question.

It shouldn't bother me that I couldn't join the nationwide superhero team and its junior wing. I'd had enough of teen drama at Winslow and had no desire to join the Wards to deal with more of it, but the fact that I was going to be excluded and looked upon with suspicion because of my power just pissed me off something cruel.

Once I was over my snit at that little injustice, I set about learning about my powers. Obviously, the first thing that I knew was that I couldn't bleed and I had a regeneration factor. This was good, as lone heroes were vulnerable to being injured.

I could also control the density of blood inside my body, making my body as hard as diamond, super strong as well as allowing me to ignore pain to a large degree. I punched right through a solid steel hull in the Boat Graveyard using that ability.

Another very interesting ability was the power to summon blood out of nothing. I created it out of thin air. I could freely control it, shape it and even alter that particular blood's composition, such as ramping up the iron content in it until it was liquid iron almost. I could make them as hard as steel while that was happening, ending up in shaped weapons that could appear from nowhere almost instantly.

I could also use them as armour, although it took a month of experimentation to discover how to shape them properly and to discover the right type of armour for me. I had initially gone with a full-plate mail design, but it was way too clunky and unwieldy. Even using my power to control the armour made me overbalance, so I scrapped that idea and moved back in time to the Roman period.

The _Lorica Segmentata_ , or segmented cuirass armour, used by Roman Legionnaires back in the day, was a good starting point. The segmented plates of armour that I made were many times superior to the soft iron interior/hard steel exterior of the Roman design and would provide excellent protection, with the addition of a gorget to protect my throat.

Helmet wise, a full-helm was in the cards. People and the world didn't want the person called Taylor Hebert? Fine. The world wouldn't get any humanity from the head of my costume. I'd put a full face mask on it, make it look terrifying.

Similar armour would be fine on the legs. Once I decided on the design, I practiced and practiced for another month and a half until I could materialise all of it onto my body at will, at the maximum strength I could manage, which increased with time and practice.

So here I was now, after three months, finally going out on patrol as a Parahuman. Wearing my black armour, black from the ridiculously high iron content I make the blood take on; I stood atop the Dockworker's Union office building and glared out over the docks.

My helmet's mask was something I was proud of. I had rethought the terrifying thing and gone simply with inhuman; a blank mask with no facial features whatsoever. I used my powers to somehow, don't ask me how, make it like one-way glass. I could see out, but no one could see in.

"Well then," I muttered, "Time to move."

Leaping from the building, I flew through the air to the roof nearby, neatly sailing over the perimeter wall and its spikes as I did so, I started to patrol the Docks. It was an unspoken secret that with the setting of the sun, the Docks belonged to the gangs. Hell, they even tried to own the place during the day.

I hate the gangs. Almost as much as the Bitch Trio, which says a lot about how skewed my worldview has become.

Everything was quiet. I refuse to use the clichéd 'too quiet' phrase, but it did feel like that. Like the calm before the storm. No one was around to fight, aside from a few stoned Merchants and they weren't doing anything illegal, aside from being drugged up on illegal substances, but they just were not worth it.

It was when I landed on a warehouse near ABB territory that I saw a lot of Asian gangbangers, all of the m armed to the teeth by ganger standards. There had to be at least thirty of them, but they had no Cape sense in that they didn't look up, so I listened in.

"Lung wants us to gather two blocks over." One man said to his friend.

"Who're we blowing away now?" his friend asked.

"Fuck knows. I ain't arguing with _Kyūshū no ryū_ , you idiot." The first man snorted, "I like my head in one piece!"

Lung. The Dragon of Kyushu, as the man had so aptly been named. The Parahuman who had fought Leviathan, the Endbringer, to a standstill at Kyushu. The Cape who had single-handedly defeated the entirety of the Protectorate in Brockton Bay when he arrived here, just because he could.

Well fuck. I had wanted a worthy opponent to take down on my first night out. Looks like the old saying of 'be careful what you wish for' is definitely true. What to do?

Well, I reasoned to myself, going to look covertly couldn't hurt. At the very least, I'd get to see a villain Cape in person and assess him.

So, reluctantly, I headed two blocks over, using blood to cushion my feet and thus reduce the sound of my landings to almost nothing. Finding the right area, I took cover behind a sign and silently cursed. There had to be over fifty ABB gangsters gathered down below, along with a figure no one in Brockton Bay could possibly mistake for someone else.

Lung.

He was topless, showing off his well-built upper body to all and sundry. The metal mask on his face was that of a stylised snarling dragon, naturally. He was lounging on a throne-like chair and, despite his pose of repose; he gave of an aura of command that practically demanded attention and respect from those around him.

"-don't care that they're kids!" he was saying to the gathered gangbangers, "You see those little bitches down? Shot them in the head twice to make certain!"

My heart skipped a beat. He did not just say what I thought he said. He did not just say he and his two-bit thugs were going to kill kids! No way!

Fuck. I'm really about to fight the nigh-invincible leader of the ABB and fifty of his stooges, aren't I? Damn _me_ for needing to do the right thing and damn _Lung_ for being an asshole.

Looking at the mass of bad guys, I could see that they were the ones who needed to go down first. Fighting Lung and these guys at the same time was a losing proposition.

Raising my hand, I created a large mass of blood in the air, startling the ABB gangers, who moved from startled to freaked out by the mass of blood hanging in the air. As you'd expect, they pulled out their guns and started to blaze away uselessly at my creation.

After a minute or so of this, I had it bloom tentacles and start grabbing the gangbangers one at a time, sticking them atop the mass of blood in black blood restraints. Once there were less than ten ABB left, they took the hint and ran with their tails between their legs. I dropped the bound gangbangers onto the ground and then dropped down myself.

Lung, who hadn't even twitched an eyebrow at his men being beaten by a cloud of blood, leaned his head on one arm and asked, "Was that supposed to impress me?"

"Taking out just under fifty gangbangers without so much as a wound being dealt on either side…yeah, I'd say that was something to write home about." I retorted with a sneer in my voice.

"While you may be able to deal with my men in such a way, you cannot do the same with me." Lung stated bluntly, "For daring to stand against me, your life is forfeit."

"Get in line, lizard breath." I told him, "Now are you going to fight or just sit on your ass all night?"

Silence filled the street as Lung slowly stood up and cracked his knuckles one by one. "Just for that quip," he said faux-calmly, "I'm going to break your back."

I waved my hand and the cloud of floating blood spat a deluge of crystallised blood blades at the Dragon of Kyushu, piercing into him before he could move even a step. I was careful about avoiding his head and heart, but otherwise didn't bother directing them. This was Lung, after all. He could take it.

Sure enough, Lung roared and started to bulk up, pulling blades out of him and his skin turning into dragon scales. This was the power that made Lung all but invincible, his ability to become more and more like a dragon as time passed. It made him stronger, made him tougher, granted him the strongest regeneration factor on the planet other than Crawler of the Slaughterhouse Nine and also gave him increasingly powerful pyrokinesis.

He wasn't taking me seriously though. I could tell because he was still less than seven feet in height. Reports from his clash with the Protectorate were very scarce, probably due to them not wanting to be seen as weak, but he had been over ten feet tall and fully draconic almost from the beginning.

He's underestimating me…good.

I increased the barrage of blood blades when he started walking forward, the weapons shattering on his scales as if they were made of weak glass and falling to the ground.

"I'm going to kill you, woman!" he snarled.

Time to get serious myself, then.

Ceasing the barrage, I formed the remaining blood into a humanoid figure, a knight, armed with a broadsword and shield. This was something I had practiced as well. Now I come to think of it, I could have used this as a stalking horse rather than show myself.

Oops.

Lung barrelled forwards with a roar, smashing onto my blood knight with the force of a battering ram, sending the eight foot knight sprawling as the Dragon of Kyushu went to town on it, ripping the solidified blood to pieces like tissue paper.

But that didn't matter; the blood knight was a distraction, nothing more. I raced towards Lung, one arm drawn back and heavily reinforced with blood armour and upping the density of my blood as much as I dared.

He looked up just in time for my fist to slam straight into the centre of his mask, buckling and shattering it, sending fragments everywhere and lifting Lung off the ground before he went flying backwards, over his 'throne' and into the side of a warehouse.

Pain blossomed up my arm for a moment before I redirected my energies to healing whatever was wrong with it and the feeling subsided. Damn, I'm really going to have to train my power better. Punching solid steel wasn't painful in the slightest, but punching Lung's face was like punching solid granite!

Even as I thought that, Lung staggered to his feet, his transformation increasing his size and warping his face into that of a dragon's to replace his mask. Wings sprouted from his back, as did a tail. Claws sprouted from his fingers and flames flickered around them. Looks like he was finally taking off the kid gloves.

"'onna 'ill 'ou!" he growled.

I didn't bother replying to him. The time for banter was past.

We charged at each other at the same time, ending in a grapple. I held off his arms and winced at the pain that the flames caused me, as well as the force he exerted on me. But it was just painful. Not agonising or anything, just painful.

Oddly enough, as I forced Lung back and then started to exchange blows with him, I felt something every time I landed a blow on him or he landed a blow on me, aside from pain.

His blood. I could feel the blood pulse through his body. Holy crap. I could read and control his blood just by touching him! I wasn't affected by the Manton Limit! Figures. I avoid physical contact with people, so I didn't realise I could do this. Just perfect.

Taken aback by this revelation, I react too slowly to block a blow from Lung that sends me flying into a building, although I cushion myself enough to not get injured with some of the blood around that I summoned.

"Ow." I say flatly, "Let's try that one again."

Roaring in anger, Lung sent one large haymaker at me, probably planning to send me back through the wall properly this time. I caught the punch with both hands and held it. Reaching along until I reached his brain, I quickly reversed the flow of the blood there.

Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu and leader of the ABB, choked for a moment before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious even as I restored the flow of his blood to normal as quickly as I could.

I hadn't been certain that it would work, but I had read a comic once with someone doing that. What do you know, it did. Lung was transforming back into his human form when I heard four thumps behind me.

"Holy crap!" a voice said from behind me. I whirled around to see four masked teens and three…

"What the hell are those?" I found myself asking.

"Bitch's dogs." The purple wearing blond girl replied, "Wow, you really went to town on these guys."

"Is that…blood?" the boy wearing biker leathers and a motorbike helmet asked uneasily.

"Yes, but it's made from her power, not from the ABB or Lung." The blond assured him, "And she just shut down Lung by reversing the flow of blood in his brain temporarily. She can ignore the Manton Limit, at least partially, although I think she still can't kill someone with the blood in their veins."

Absently, I got the remaining blood to wrap around Lung like a cocoon, leaving his face exposed. I stalked over to one terrified member of the ABB and took his balaclava, forcing it over Lung's head.

"Nice that you're respecting the unwritten rules." Motorbike helmet said, "Lung was coming after us for robbing the Ruby Dreams Casino last week. We fought Oni Lee into a retreat, and we were coming to take the fight to Lung, but…you got there ahead of us."

"Seriously? I thought Lung was going to kill some actual kids." I said in disbelief, "I fought fifty ABB thugs and Lung on a misunderstanding? Someone hates me."

"That's what happened? Man, that blows." The boy in a renaissance faire outfit commented.

"Armsmaster's on his way." The blond girl said, staring into the distance, "Look, we owe you a solid for taking down Lung for us. Want to come with us to get away from Halbeard?"

I had to muffle a chuckle at that. It was one of the Protectorate leader's less complimentary nicknames, according to PHO.

"Why not. It isn't like the white-hats will want to recruit a blood user." I replied somewhat despondently.

The blond girl snorted in agreement. "Yeah, if anyone doesn't fit their picture of perfection it's villainy or the Birdcage for them. Hop on."

When Armsmaster turned up, he was puzzled about all the blood, but no injuries.

 **So here's another one that I think is quite nice. Disgusting to imagine, but interesting, to say the least. Just so you know, the DNA of the blood is random, so she can't be found out that way.**

 **Shaker: 7 (Able to generate large amounts of blood and shape it to various purposes, from constructs to weapons to armour. Able to solidify and/or crystallise the blood to improve its utility. Can freely alter the composition of blood from density to blood type.)**

 **Brute: 5 (Able to control the blood within her own body to gain superhuman strength and durability. Cannot bleed. Has the ability to ignore up to a certain threshold of pain. Has a moderately powerful healing factor.)**

 **Striker: 8 (Is able to control the blood within the bodies of others with a touch. This can be used to control the body of the person she touches, cure blood poisoning, alter the flow of blood in their body, accelerate the cell regeneration factor and a whole host of other uses.)**


	17. How Dense Can You Get?

"Whoa." Taylor said in shock as she stared at the thick stick in her hand, which had formerly been an entire half-sunken ship in the Boat Graveyard.

Ever since The Locker, she had been able to sense the dimensions of every non-organic thing she touched, as well being able to know its weight down to the last gram. She hadn't said or done anything about it until one day when she had lost her temper with that damn loose step. She'd fallen off it and she had smacked it with a clenched fist.

The next thing she knew, the step had ripped itself free of the rest and had compressed itself into a twig. When she picked it up, it had still felt exactly as heavy as a plank of wood with a couple of nails in it would weigh.

After a quick trip to the library, she had found what this power was; compression. The ability to compress objects into a smaller form whilst simultaneously keeping the same weight. Interestingly enough, it was noted as being a sub-technique of density control.

After learning that, it was impossible for Taylor to not experiment, which had led to her standing in the middle of the Boat Graveyard in the middle of the night. When she had first tried to compress a ship, she hadn't been able to do it, which puzzled her, until she remembered the Manton Limit. This meant she was unable to use her power on an object that had a living being within the area of effect of her power's 'compression field' for lack of a better term.

After clearing out the ship of rats and fish, she finally compressed the ship…and it was awe-inspiring to watch. It floated out of the water before a glowing field of translucent energy surrounded it and started to shrink, the ship being crushed and compressed as it did so, until all that was left was a length of metal the length of a baseball bat that fell into her hands. Much to her surprise, she was not crushed by the weight of the thing, although she could sense that it was just as heavy as it had been in its original form.

Moving to another ship and swinging the bat, she blinked when it crushed right through the steel hull and even made the entire sunken ship shiver from the impact.

The next day, after another quick trip to the library, she found out why. It was a power called 'selective density.' This meant that she was both weighted AND weightless simultaneously. Translated, she could walk over a field of pressure-sensitive landmines without setting them off whilst also being able to interact with the world normally, as well as being able to lift things she shouldn't be able to lift, such as a compressed cargo ship masquerading as a baseball bat in the basement of her house.

As it seemed her body was influenced by her power, the next night she tried cranking up the density of her own body. It worked…too well. She could pummel solid and slightly rusted steel into scrap metal. It actually scared her how easily she could break Emma or Sophia in half if she wanted to now. After all that the Bitch Trio had done to her, she was surprised how little she desired to avenge herself upon the girls.

The desire, small as it might be, _was_ there, make no mistake about that, but she didn't view them as being worth the bother anymore. Besides, she didn't want to go to the Birdcage, thank you very much.

One final thing she discovered that she could do was to pick up something simple, like a length of steel, and increase its density. These made excellent weapons, even thrown weapons, when she wanted something that wouldn't crush a regular human into pulp from a single hit, yet still pack a powerful enough whack to make them feel it. She couldn't use this ability on a compressed object, but she could up the density of it before she compressed it.

Squaring her shoulders, she set about practicing landing blows that didn't turn people into offal. The…costume design and a name.

 _Later_

Henry Wong hated his first name.

His mother had been fond of the book by Roald Dahl, _The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More_ , and had named him after that titular character. This, quite naturally, led to Henry being bullied and victimised in Hong Kong until he grew up big enough and strong enough to beat the ever-loving crap out of anyone who called him Henry or made fun of the fact that he was called Henry.

Then he had Triggered during a family holiday to Kyushu, when Leviathan struck that city.

He had lost his entire family, but had gained power. A worthy trade off, in his opinion. His power was very useful. He could create explosions of various yields anywhere within his line of sight. Additionally, he could enhance other explosions not of his own creation, which is why Lung had been very eager to get him on board, along with the Tinker, Jennifer Lee, who went by Bakuda.

His own Cape Name was not a very good one, yet who was he to argue with Lung?

"Hey, Haretsu!" one ABB gangster shouted into his quarters, "The Boss wants you to patrol near the new weapons stash. Empire's been flittin' about there."

Haretsu, translated as Rupture, sighed. "I'll be there momentarily."

Pulling on his costume, a long red haori, black hakama with a Tengu mask covering his face, took less than a minute. Grabbing his gun on the way out took seconds. Getting away from the insane bitch known as Bakuda took five minutes.

She was, he thought as she screeched at him in Japanese, a genuine nutcase. She was a former terrorist 'acquired' by Lung's people after she Triggered and tried to hold Cornell University hostage. The only reason why she wasn't blowing the shit out of Brockton Bay right now was because Lung scared the piss out of her, not that the arrogant Tinker would admit it.

Still, he did manage to get the bitch to fuck off and leave him alone to actually go on patrol. It was insane. She was of the opinion that he should be fucking her and thanking her for the privilege. Hell no. He hated his mother for her poor naming sense, but she had taught him that crazy women, while good in bed, were not good for your health in a relationship as it took one misplaced comment to make them go off the deep end with you.

That was especially the case with a mad Tinker with a bomb specialisation.

Prowling quietly along the streets towards the newest cache of weapons and other illegal things that the ABB had stored for the looming gang war with the Empire 88, Haretsu's eyes narrowed at the conspicuous lack of ABB guards that should be around a neighbourhood they controlled.

Pulling out his gloves and pulling them on, he froze as a scream echoed through the night…right in the direction of the stash. Brilliant. Hopefully he could blame this on Bakuda for holding him up, but he doubted it. Lung was infamous for severely punishing everyone involved in something like this.

Bursting into a run, he rounded the corner and found the unconscious forms of the ABB guards from the entire area and cursed. He glanced at the building nearby and blanched. It looked as if a giant had punched a hole in the wall!

' _It would take Lung being in his fully transformed state to cause such damage!_ ' he thought in shock. Certainly, one of Bakuda's bombs could deal more damage, as could his own explosive effect, but only the best of the Empire could cause this level of damage.

Well…technically Squealer could build something that could cause this, but the inventions she designed were purely for vehicles and, as there wasn't one here, it couldn't be her.

Right. Empire 88 then. No cuts so Hookwolf is out. Cricket doesn't have the pure muscle, ditto for Kaiser, Crusader, Fog, Alabaster, Victor and Othala. That left Fenja, Menja, Rune, Purity, Night, Stormtiger, Krieg and Rune.

Approaching the hole, Haretsu peered in and immediately spotted the only figure that was not male or Asian, making her the culprit here. It wasn't that the ABB didn't accept women, Bakuda being proof of that, but the ABB didn't really entice many females into the organisation.

The most confusing thing was the outfit she wore. It was pretty basic; a motorcycle helmet with a balaclava on beneath it, bike leathers, gloves and boots The back of the top had the symbol of a clenched fist with a spiky aura around it. It looked hand painted or something. He had to give her props for the attention to detail; it was really rather well done.

The woman was busy knocking out the remaining guards in the building before throwing them out the nearest window. A few fired bullets at her, but they just bounced off her like water from a duck's back. Again, the only person he'd seen shrug off bullets like that was Lung, although he was certain any Brute with a rating higher than 4 could do the same. Still, it told him that he would need to strike hard and that he did not need to worry about killing her.

Once the last ABB member was both insensate and airborne through the window, he struck, creating several explosions around her at once. That would kill any ordinary human, but when the smoke cleared, she stood unharmed, not even her clothes were damaged or singed in the slightest.

Haretsu gaped. Being Brute enough to survive the explosions, he could accept. But Brute enough to tank the explosions without suffering so much as a cut on her clothes was another thing altogether.

A chilling thought occurred to him. What if she wasn't just a Brute? What if she was a Breaker of some sort as well, or even a Shaker with the ability to create forcefields around her body? Either explanation would explain the seemingly invulnerable nature of the woman's clothing and made things more than slightly irritating and costly for him. Breakers were pesky opponents at the best of times as they violated the laws of nature in several ways and Shakers weren't much better. He should know as he was one.

"That was a very rude way to introduce yourself." The girl commented, her muffled voice indicating that her age range was around about mid-teens, certainly not older than seventeen.

"When you beat up thirty of the ABB and start to raid their property, politeness tends to go out the window…much like those gangers you beat up." Henry answered dryly, "I am Haretsu. You?"

"Smackdown." The Cape replied, "I'd retreat or surrender if I were you. Your little fireworks display didn't really do much to me aside from look pretty."

"Smackdown? Whatever. At least it isn't Chubster." Haretsu shook his head, "Come out into the open and we'll see about what I can and cannot do."

"As you wish." Smackdown shrugged and left the building. As she did so she grabbed it and a translucent field crackled into existence around the entire building.

"What are you doing?!" Haretsu growled, "Stop!"

"Don't know how to stop it once it's started." Smackdown replied with a smirk in her voice, "As for what it's doing…watch and learn."

He was. The field spread to the entirety of the building and then ripped it from the ground before shrinking, everything inside it being crushed and compressed into a smaller and smaller mass. By the end of it, the field vanished and a mace dropped out of the field, right into Smackdown's hand.

He was in deep trouble. That building, an old two-story shop/apartment building, had held about half a million dollars in illegal weaponry and a lot of ammo as well. All gone. All compressed into that little mace no larger than his arm.

"That," Haretsu said calmly, "Was a mistake."

With that, he let loose with explosions several times more powerful than the ones he had used before. No stupid hand gestures, not roars of anger or calling attack names, just zero to explode in less than five seconds. His specialty.

His eyes widened as his target simply strolled out of the clouds of smoke as unharmed as before. Seriously? He knew he hadn't been holding back on those explosions. Even _Lung_ would have felt that, and this girl shook it off like it was nothing?!

Really starting to panic now, Haretsu created wave after wave of consecutive explosions, all designed to cripple her. He was pushing the limits of his ability now, generating explosions large and powerful enough to destroy a main line battle tank in short order.

Still, all that happened was a little scuff on her arm!

"My turn." Smackdown said coolly and leapt forwards with one finger extended, lightly tapping him on the arm as she went past him.

With a sickening crack, his arm broke and he screamed expletives in Chinese and Japanese as he clutched it. A single tap with her forefinger?! Seriously?! Just how strong was she?!

Against a foe as formidable as this, he decided, discretion was the better part of valour. He'd tell Lung and then he'd see who was the better brawler in town.

"My…apologies for underestimating you, Smackdown." Haretsu hissed in a mix of pain and anger, "I shall retreat for today, but be warned; you have made an enemy of the ABB on this day. You may have defeated me, but you stand no chance against Lung."

"Don't count your chickens before they've hatched, Haretsu." The other Parahuman warned him, "I'm here to push out all of the gangs in Brockton Bay. You are a disease that is killing this city and I am the cure. As a mark of respect for your courage, I will allow you to leave here unmolested. Pray that we do not cross paths again."

With a growl of frustration, Haretsu turned tail and fled.

' _This is utterly humiliating._ ' He thought, 'At least Lung will have something to keep him from getting bored.'

A little voice at the back of his head warned him that that wouldn't happen, but he ignored it. Surely even Smackdown couldn't win against the Dragon of Kyushu.

Right?

 **An interesting concept, in my opinion. Not a particularly flashy set of abilities, but interesting nonetheless. The name…yeah, it needs work. But, on the bright side, it isn't bad on the same scale as Chubster.**

 **Brute: 8 (Able to raise the density of her body high enough that she gains high levels of superhuman strength and endurance. Functionally, her skin is impenetrable while in this state.)**

 **Thinker/Striker: 4 (Able to instantly know the weight, density and mass of any inorganic object she holds or touches, from a pencil to an airplane to a building. Able to set exactly what her Shaker ability can affect and what it cannot. Able to imbue handheld objects with increased density, although not objects that have been compressed by her Shaker ability.)**

 **Shaker: 5 (Able to compress inorganic objects into smaller items that maintain the same density. Limited by the Manton Effect to a degree in that she cannot use her ability on something that contains above a certain amount of organic matter. 'Dead' organic matter, such as wood, does not count. The end shape and size of the compressed matter can be anything she desires.)**

 **Breaker: 4 (Has Selective Density. Is both affected and not affected by weight simultaneously. Is thus able to walk over quicksand without being dragged down while being able to carry things that should technically crush her. Is permanently active.)**


	18. As Solid as the Earth

Emily Piggot, Director of the Brockton Bay Parahuman Response Team, felt a headache coming on as she blearily half-glared at Armsmaster and Miss Militia. She hadn't slept in two days and was on the verge of collapse, but she'd be damned if she was going to do so in front of Parahumans!

"What, in the name of God, happened?" she asked evenly, "The Docks and Broadwalk are a mess, Fenja and Menja are in comas, the Empire 88 is on the warpath, with the ABB right on their heels…what the hell is going on here and how did you miss it?!"

"We aren't entirely certain." Miss Militia said with a tired sigh. Even though the woman could go for weeks without sleep, the mental fatigue of the last 48 hours had made her exhausted. "As far as we can tell, Lung tried, and failed, to recruit the Cornell University Bomber, Bakuda and she went on a bombing rampage in the city to prove a point."

Armsmaster spoke up then. "As far as we can tell, this series of explosions, with effects ranging from transmutation of flesh into glass, to standard explosions, to mild fallout reactions, caused several people to Trigger as a result of it. The one who counterattacked and killed Bakuda, as well as putting the Fenja/Menja sisters into a coma, was one of these Triggers, as evidenced by her costume consisting of only a black jacket and a balaclava. We have currently given her the codename 'Gaia.'"

"As in the ancient Greek Titan-Goddess of the Earth?" Piggot asked wearily.

"The same." The armoured hero confirmed, "She is a powerful Terrakinetic who has thus far shown the ability to control the earth around her with exacting control. She has been shown to know where people are as long as they are standing on the ground and has shown the ability to create earth out of nothing in limited amounts, about a boulder sized rock at a time."

"We believe that someone close to her was killed in Bakuda's bombing, which caused her to Trigger and that is why she went after her hell-bent on eliminating her." Miss Militia added, "Considering Bakuda had a kill-order on her head after the first hour of her bombing campaign, I think she did us all a favour."

"Putting the Fenja/Menja twins into a coma was over the line." Emily snarled back, her tired mind trying to work out how to turn this to the PRT's advantage, "Panacea can't work with brains, but she has determined that they are severely concussed and that when she healed them, they had almost every bone in their bodies broken. And the reports say that she engaged them in one-on-one combat, not with the earth."

"We suspect that Kaiser ordered the twins to 'recruit' her." Armsmaster grimaced, "They aren't known for their subtlety, so took 'recruit' to mean 'conscript' instead and attacked her."

"She was forced away from the earth and was on the brink of being defeated when, according to eyewitness accounts, she was surrounded in a dark-yellow energy field." Miss Militia continued, "This seems to grant her the equivalent of Brute 4 and Mover 2 abilities. She then grabbed some metal pipes and they turned brown. We have one of these weapons in custody now and Armsmaster here believes this is some sort of earth infusion technique, as the pipe is no longer just metal, but metal that has solid _granite_ seamlessly mixed in to the structure of it."

"Christ." Piggot cursed, "So she counterattacked and beat them all to hell, because she was a new Trigger and thus had no idea about the Unwritten Rules. Is that what you're telling me? If so, how did she get around the twins' Breaker effect? Gaia's attacks should have been shrunk proportionately to their size, and during the fight, I notice that they were both two stories high before being defeated."

"Did I mention that the pipe I referred to before had to be brought in using several of Kid Win's antigravity boosters?" Miss Militia replied dryly, "Apparently she can freely alter the _density_ of her earthen constructs as well as the composition and shape. This means that regardless of how large or small the attacks were, they would strike far harder than the twins would expect, causing the damage Panacea noted."

"And we have no idea where Gaia is or who she is?" Piggot asked wearily.

"Negative." Armsmaster confirmed, "She flew away on a floating platform of rock and hasn't been seen since."

"So…power ratings?" Piggot asked.

"Shaker 8 for Terrakinesis, the aura and the ability to create earth." Armsmaster listed, "Brute 4 and Mover 2 for the body enhancement effects while under the aura. Thinker 5 for that ability to sense vibrations in the ground. Striker 4 for the infusion ability and Mover 3 for the Geokinetic flight."

"Why is the Thinker rating so high?" Piggot asked, "For a single ability, that's a bit much, surely?"

"When she temporarily teamed up with Vista and Aegis to rescue people trapped in the rubble of one of the bombsites, she indicated she could tell individual people apart by their vibrations and from quite some distance away. Additionally, she can read those vibrations to see if people are lying to her. One ability with many applications, Director." Miss Militia informed the obese woman.

"Mother of God. Right. Inform all Wards and Protectorate members to _politely_ request Gaia's presence here should they run across her." The Director said firmly as she massaged her temples, "They are not to demand or otherwise antagonise her. And, _regardless_ of whether she agrees to come or not, they are to give her a rundown of the Unwritten Rules so what happened with Fenja and Menja doesn't happen again. Christ knows that the Empire is going to be gunning for her blood after this. Make certain that she knows the life expectancy of independent heroes before she makes a choice."

"Director, you should go and sleep; I don't need to, but you do." Miss Militia said in concern.

Emily sighed. "As soon as I have updated Chief Director Costa-Brown, I'll be doing that. She is…displeased…that I let this happen unopposed."

The other woman winced. The Head of the PRT was known to be a brass-clad bitch at the _best_ of times and this was not one of those times.

 _With Taylor_

Sitting atop a building on the edge of the Boat Graveyard, Taylor Hebert didn't notice as the tears fell from her eyes. She had been crying almost nonstop since that bitch Bakuda had killed her father. Only the rage of combat had allowed her to stop.

' _I have powers…who gives a fuck?_ ' she thought bitterly. Powers couldn't bring her Dad back. Her poor Dad, turned into a glass statue by those fucking bombs as he left for work.

Seeing that happen had made her black out, then she had these powers when she woke up. It wasn't hard to work out what her powers were, considering her front yard had been churned up like it had been punched by a giant. Taylor had run inside, full of rage, and grabbed her Mom's old bike coat and her balaclava before heading out to find her Dad's murderer.

A villain, of all people, had given her the break she needed to track down the bomber bitch. Tattletale of the Undersiders, when Taylor had run into her, had informed her of several locations where Bakuda had been seen in the week since she arrived in Brockton Bay.

Killing Bakuda had been both cathartic and horrifying. Cathartic as she had avenged her Dad's killer, horrifying because she had killed a human being. She had still been reeling from that when she came across two of the Wards trying to save some people trapped under a building. She had helped them get the trapped people out before trying to get away so she could start to mourn.

Emphasis on 'try' here, as she had been attacked by two of the Empire 88's Capes, Fenja and Menja, before getting a block away. The two had tried to knock her out on the first attack, but Taylor had sensed their approach using the vibrations they gave off. The ability to sense the vibrations that people gave of as they walked or even just stood there was a big help, especially as she could tell if they were lying or not somehow.

Also, for some reason, Parahumans felt different to her vibration sense. If a normal human 'felt' like a low rumble, then Parahumans were a discordant shrieking crack. This made them exceptionally easy to find.

She had been in trouble when the two Nazi Capes had shot up to the size of two-story buildings and tried to squash her, so she had climbed a building. Then she had discovered that her ability to control the earth was weakened by not being in contact with it.

When all had seemed lost, Taylor had tried to pull the earth to her, only to discover herself shrouded in an aura of yellow energy that granted her speed and strength she shouldn't have, which then allowed her to dodge blows from Fenja's sword. She had grabbed a couple of pipes on a whim and directed the earthen aura into them, resulting in two very dense and powerful weapons that she had then proceeded to beat the two women into submission with. No matter what their power to shrink attacks would do to the size of the attacks, the higher density and impact of her pipe's attacks were unaffected.

Then she had fled, horrified with herself yet again. She had come close to killing them and had only just been able to stop. It wasn't until she woke from her self-recrimination that she realised she had flown up on a boulder of air that she had instinctively created. Hurriedly, she brought herself down to earth again atop this building, where she had stayed ever since.

' _What's going to happen to me, now that Dad's gone?_ ' Taylor wondered. She knew that her mother's family had essentially pretended that she didn't exist because Annette had married against the wishes of her family, and that Dad had been the last of his family, so she was alone.

"You don't have to be, you know." A familiar voice spoke up from behind her. Taylor leapt to her feet and spun around to see Tattletale holding a pizza box and giving her a fox-like grin.

"Hungry?" the villainess asked.

 **That's where it ends. I know a lot of people have been wondering why some elements of these one-shots have some plot-holes in them. The answer is that it's to give anyone who wants to adopt the stories plenty of leg room. Review please!**


	19. A Shock for the Gangs

Kneeling atop a building in the Docks area, Taylor Hebert frowned down at the fight going on below her. The ABB and the Empire 88 were having another clash between them, although thankfully it hadn't escalated to having any of their Capes exchanging blows yet, but unless someone stepped in, it might just escalate to that level.

Fortunately, Taylor had no intentions of allowing things to get that far.

She was dressed in a yellow and black outfit that looked as if it had been taken from a motorbike catalogue. Similar fingerless gloves covered her hands and a white mask with blue lightning bolts dancing across it concealed her face. Flexible leather boots sheathed her feet, completing the costume. The only other thing she had was the small courier pack slung over her shoulder. It was this that carried zip-ties, handcuffs and other implements she might need.

"Time to go." She muttered and clutched her fist, a spark of electricity arcing up her arm as she did so.

Leaping from the top of the building, she called upon her power, a storm of electricity erupting around her with a crackle and snap that was drowned out by the sounds of battle emanating from beneath her. With a shout, she plummeted to the ground, slamming down to the asphalt and letting loose the electricity she had gathered in a 360 degree arc around her, sending gangbangers and skinheads flying.

In the silence after Taylor landed, a single voice yelled and broke it.

"CAPE!"

Then all hell broke loose.

Taylor flung out both arms towards the Empire 88, sending a large shockwave of electricity out and sending them flying once again. When they touched down this time, however, they found themselves adhered to the ground via shackles of electricity around their arms and legs. No matter how they struggled, they were trapped.

"Ice the bastard!" one of the ABB roared. The distinctive clicking of guns could be heard as those that had them drew and prepared to fire them.

The masked girl swung around and raised one hand, creating a shield of electricity in mid-air before her just as the ABB let loose a fusillade of bullets at her. Some of them missed completely, but the rest struck the shield and were caught by it.

In her other hand, Taylor created a ball of lightning and lobbed it at the gangbangers. It struck one on the chest and stuck there. The man shrieked like a girl, swiped at his chest and screamed, "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

' _Three…two…one…Zero._ ' Taylor counted in her head.

When her mental count reached zero, the ball glowed before exploding like a hand grenade, eliminating not only the man it was attached to but several gangbangers who were nearby, all of whom were armed with pistols of some kind.

"Let's get outta here!" one man yelled from the back of the ABB lines. Several others joined him, but that still left ten ready to fight. Taylor grinned, dropped the shield and started blasting them with weak lightning bolts that rendered them immobile after a couple of hits.

"And that's a wrap." Taylor muttered. She focussed for a moment and used her electrolocation ability to see if any of the Empire or ABB goons that had run or been lost from her sight were waiting for her to drop her guard.

Electrolocation was what she called the ability to sense the natural bio-electricity that humans possessed in their nervous system, as well as any artificial electricity sources in the area. Additionally, an unconscious person's bio-electricity 'felt' different from the bio-electricity of someone who was conscious, so playing possum was useless against Taylor.

Satisfied that the only conscious people were either secured with the electro-restraints, too badly wounded to move or unconscious, the new Parahuman set about restraining the ABB and Empire thugs whilst stripping them of money, weapons and drugs. The drugs and any guns were left on top of the owners, while Taylor took any knives and cash they had on them.

$1050 and seven knives later, the Cape sauntered off, quite pleased with her night's work.

On the way back to her home, Taylor thought about everything that had happened over the last three months. Getting locked in the locker had been hell, plain and simple. Taylor had wished, as she drove herself mad inside the locker, that Sophia Hess and the other two would be struck by a lightning bolt or were electrocuted some other way. She didn't know why she had fixated on that particular punishment, but she had been reading a fantasy novel the previous day involving a god that was trigger-happy with smiting unbelievers with lightning bolts, so that might have something to do with it.

Waking up in the hospital a day later, she had been kept in for observation for half a day and given a week off school. Her dad had promptly told Principal Blackwell to go have sex with farm animals and withdrawn her from Winslow. Self-Study was the way to go, but she had discovered that unless she was really, really careful, she would short out electronic devices just by touching them, so computers were dicey for her.

Training her powers for three months had yielded results. Electrokinesis, the ability to create and control electricity. She was functionally immune to being electrocuted, absorbing it like a sponge would with water. Doing so actually healed her of tiredness and exhaustion, as well as any minor wounds such as cuts, lesser burns and the like. She hadn't tested it on major wounds because she hadn't been wounded to that degree and had no desire to get that badly wounded.

What she was currently doing was the coolest ability, shooting lightning bolts aside, that she had at her disposal; Electrokinetic Surfing. In other words, she was speeding along atop the power lines faster than the average person could run. It really made getting around Brockton Bay much easier than if she had to run everywhere, thanks to all the power lines that crisscrossed the city.

"Hey, you a villain?" a voice said from her side. Taylor leapt to the other side and levitated using Electrokinetic Flight…well; technically it was just Electrokinetic Hovering, as she could barely move a foot without falling, but as for being stationary, it was good enough.

A blond girl with a body like a model, wearing a bright white costume and a little tiara floated next to the power lines with a raised eyebrow at Taylor's actions.

"A little warning next time?!" Taylor spat at Glory Girl of New Wave, "I almost attacked you on instinct!"

"So villain, right?" Victoria Dallon asked with a smirk.

"NO! Damn it, I just beat the shit out of fifty ABB and Empire 88 thugs over at the Docks, so no, I'm not a villain!" Taylor snarked.

"Uh-huh." Glory Girl looked Taylor up and down sceptically, "The threads aren't exactly proving you right here."

"Not every family has enough money to splurge on detergent for all that white, princess." Taylor shot back, "I mean seriously, you should get sponsored by detergent companies for all the detergent you people must go through."

"Wha…?" Clearly, no one had ever taken this tack with the girl, so she was sincerely confused.

"Now that we've cleared up the fact I'm not a villain, see ya." Taylor floated back to the power line and started surfing it again.

"Hold it!" the blond shouted indignantly and flew after Taylor, "What part of that conversation made you not a villain?!"

"Me saying so." Taylor replied dryly, "You have no proof that I've committed any crimes, nor do you have any suspicions that I am other than the fact I'm not dressed to suit your discriminatory views about how heroes should dress. Fact is, you really should just fly off."

As the blond heroine spluttered indignantly again, Taylor grimaced. She had considered joining New Wave after automatically rejecting the idea of joining the Wards, but the uniforms and the fact that Brandish, Glory Girl's mother, worked in the same law firm as Alan Barnes put her off. Plus the whole 'reveal your identity' thing wasn't in the cards for her. Nope.

"Fine!" Glory Girl threw her arms up in exasperation, "Assuming that you're not a villain, what's your name?"

"Just call me InFamous, Glory Girl." Taylor said with a smirk under her mask. She didn't know why, but the name just seemed to fit her.

"Again, not exactly a heroic name there."

"The world isn't sunshine and butterflies, you know." Taylor shot back waspishly, "The PRT and the Protectorate have done jack all for Brockton Bay and they keep to nice, neutral or heroic names. Hell, even you New Wave people haven't done anything recently. I will do what I can to remove the cancer in this city; the Empire, the Merchants, the ABB. I don't want villains to look at me and relax, knowing I'm a White Hat; I want them to flinch, knowing that I'm someone who will put them down hard if they harm the people of this city."

' _OK, where the hell did that come from?!_ ' the Electrokinetic thought in shock at her own speech. It was, by and large, what she thought about the current situation in her hometown, but she didn't mean to mouth off to Glory Girl like that.

"…wow, you really have a chip on your shoulder." Glory Girl said after a moment, "You do know that solo heroes last about three months after the first ninety days?"

"I do trawl PHO occasionally, so yes." Taylor shrugged, "I don't really have much choice. The Wards are a waste of time with their stupid publicity patrols and the stupid Youth Guard, and after what happened to Fleur, no way am I joining New Wave."

Glory Girl's aura of aggression flared for a moment at the mention of her deceased aunt before it faded.

"That was the only time the Unwritten Rules have been broken." She said angrily, "After Kaiser crucified the one who did it, no one's stupid enough to try it again."

"Because you all live together in two large groups." Taylor pointed out as she leapt to another set of power lines, "Taking on a single Parahuman is all very well, but four at once? No way. Now if you don't mind, I'm heading home, so could you not follow me?"

"Oh. Sorry." Glory Girl hovered in place and watched InFamous speed off; her feet alight with arcs of electricity as the Cape slid over the power cables.

The blond girl was unusually thoughtful as she sped back to her family home after she picked up her sister, Panacea, from the hospital.

"Vicky-girl? What's up?" her father, Flashbang, asked in concern after she got in and settled.

"I met a new Parahuman today." Vicky said with a frown, "A Heroic Vigilante from what I could tell. Wears black and yellow biker clothes with a white and blue mask. Calls herself InFamous. She's…really bitter."

"Oh?" Carol Dallon, aka Brandish, asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She was very…critical of the Protectorate's lack of progress in dealing with the gangs." The blond girl shrugged uneasily, "Us as well. She said something about not wanting to join the Wards, so I'm guessing she's about Ames' age or so."

"You did tell her the life expectation of a lone hero, didn't you?" Carol asked.

"Yup, and she doesn't care."

"She what?!" Amy asked in disbelief.

"She said that she didn't have much choice because she didn't want to waste time with the Wards and…she didn't want to join New Wave because of what happened to Fleur." Vicky said softly.

The older heroes in the room stiffened at that.

"So…what was her power?" Amy asked at length in an attempt to break the silence.

Vicky smiled at her little sister. "Something to do with electricity. She was surfing on top of power lines with it and she could fly with it, but not well. Seemed to have good reflexes and leg strength too. Definitely at least Mover 3 or 4. She didn't show any other powers, but she had them. She was way too confident at being able to do me harm when I surprised her."

"You pulled a 'silent fly and hi' move, didn't you?" Amy groaned.

"Hey, she _looked_ like a villain!" Vicky pouted.

"Victoria, never try that again with an unknown Cape." Carol ordered tersely, "She was well within her rights to consider you hostile at that point, so thank your lucky stars. Alexandria-types are mostly invulnerable, yes, but put emphasis on mostly. You never know if one Cape's powers are your Achilles Heel."

"Yes Mom." Vicky said sullenly.

"I'll inform Miss Militia about this 'InFamous' character tomorrow." The woman said with a sigh, "Electrokinetics are not common, so she'll be easy to spot. I just hope Armsmaster doesn't pull another stupid stunt like what he did with Shadow Stalker."

Vicky and Amy grimaced. Neither girl liked the vigilante-turned-Ward, but getting all but kidnapped by Armsmaster doubtlessly hadn't improved her opinion of heroes. Despite the fact she had an attempted manslaughter charge on her rap sheet.

"What did you think of her aside from her bitterness?" Mark Dallon asked.

"She…loves Brockton Bay." Vicky replied hesitantly, "The way she spoke about 'excising the cancer' in the Bay sounded like genuine anger and outrage. Whoever she is, she was born and raised in the Bay and was raised to love her home."

"Well that's something at least." Carol sighed.

"Oh! She also said something about beating up fifty members of the Empire and ABB down at the docks." The blond girl remembered.

Carol dragged out her phone and hit a speed dial. "Sarah? It's Carol…yes…Victoria ran into a new Cape, a Vigilante so it seems…yes…where's Crystal's patrol tonight? The Docks? Would there happen to be about fifty or so Empire and ABB thugs down for the count over there? As I thought…yes, it was the new Cape who took them down. I'll have a briefing put together for you tomorrow. Yes…Bye."

Brandish flipped her phone shut and looked at the rest of her family. "Well now…that was interesting."

 **So yeah. If the name hasn't given it away, this power set is Cole McGrath's from InFamous and Infamous 2. Just the Electrokinetic set though, with a few additions. On a sadder note, this chapter is dedicated to the memory of Becauzitswrong, who passed away last month of a heart attack. He was a good friend and Beta and will be missed.**

 **Blaster: 7 (Able to fire blasts of electricity of varying intensities and strengths, ranging from that of a stun gun and Taser to that of a lightning bolt. Is able to pick up and throw objects with Electrokinetic telekinesis. Is able to create balls of lightning that stick to their target and blow up several seconds later.)**

 **Shaker: 8 (Able to create forcefields of electricity to block incoming attacks. Is able to create unidirectional shockwaves of electrical force that send enemies flying and bind them if she wishes. Able to create an omnidirectional shockwave after landing from a jump. Able to create tornadoes of ionic energy to attack her enemies.)**

 **Breaker: 5 (Able to neutralise and absorb and electricity or lightning directed at her. Able to create an aura of electrical energy around herself that gives her a Brute 2 rating. When absorbing electricity, any wounds she has will be healed.)**

 **Thinker: 5 (Electrolocation: the ability to know where any source of electricity, biological or artificial, is located. Can distinguish between each type easily, as well as the consciousness of any biological source. Can be confused by powers, especially Case 53's.)**

 **Mover: 6 (Able to surf on power lines and train tracks. Able to create tethers of electricity to swing from. Able to hover using electricity jets emitted from her hands or feet.)**

 **Striker: 6 (Able to coat limbs in electricity to increase damage dealt. Able to solidify electricity into blades strong and sharp enough to cut plated steel. Able to use electricity to stimulate molecules, renewing damaged cells, reduce fatigue and even heal minor to moderate brain damage. Able to infuse weapons with electricity to up the damage they deal.)**


	20. Fate and the Gamer Prologue (FSN)

Zelretch was bored.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, known by the names of 'The Wizard Marshall,' 'Zelretch of the Jewels,' 'Old Man of the Jewels' and 'Kaleidoscope,' was bored out of his mind.

When any Magi, those cruel and heartless users of mystic circuits, hear those words, they, without exception, panic like headless chickens and attempt to flee the area. They are not alone in this. The Church, True Ancestors, Dead Apostles and other supernatural beings all instinctively know that if the Kaleidoscope is bored, things (mostly people) tend to get broken in the process of him attempting to alleviate said boredom.

The Second Magic, known as 'Operation of Parallel Worlds,' was the perfect tool to aid in the alleviation of boredom. A little known fact was that although parallel worlds were metaphorically right next to the original world, their time streams were not. Meaning that, with a bit of finagling, he could enter into a world at any point before the moment he had left his own world.

Currently, the bored Dead Apostle Ancestor was strolling along the Clocktower's corridors after witnessing something amazing, even to him; Rin Tohsaka , or to use her own country's form Tōsaka Rin, standing alongside a young man with determined green eyes and red hair, as well as a young homunculus, wielding his own Jewelled Sword Zelretch!

He had given the blueprints of his blade to the then-Head of the Tōsaka Clan and student of his, Tōsaka Nagato, two-hundred years ago as 'a bit of light homework,' when in reality, the creation of the blade would take a millennia of careful research and development to achieve, so his surprise at seeing a copy of it in existence a full eight-hundred years early was genuine.

Upon hearing that it was thanks to the boy, Emiya Shirou, and the girl, Illyasviel 'Illya' von Einzbern, that she had been able to create a copy of the Jewelled Sword, he guffawed loudly. Never had he suspected that a _Magus_ , especially a Magus of the overly proud and independent lineage of Tōsaka Nagato, would actually enlist others in their research!

Seeing the boy Emiya, he saw at once how he had been able to help the Tōsaka girl; he had a Reality Marble, a Koyū Kekkai, as well as a completely nonstandard Origin and Element, both of them [Sword]. He thought back, but could not recall anyone having such an alignment. The closest was someone having the Origin [Pierce], which allowed him to pierce through barriers and lies easily. The downside of that one was that the holder in question literally couldn't stop himself from trying to discover the truth or breaking through barriers, which had led to a gristly end for the man.

The girl was the Einzbern's [Lesser Grail], one that had survived the Holy Grail War, but was living on borrowed time. She referred to Emiya as 'Onii-chan' although she was at least six years his senior, despite her little-girl appearance. When he discovered that Emiya Kiritsugu was her blood father and the boy's adopted father, he had laughed once again.

The inclusion of the girl explained how the boy had been able to copy, even superficially, his Jewelled Sword. He had used Illya's inherited memories of her ancestress, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, to create the sword via his unique application of Graduation Air.

With his abilities at her command, Tōsaka Rin would be able to create a copy of the Jewelled Sword in decades, three at the earliest. As a reward for amusing him, he would stop the Clocktower from charging them with anything for their actions during the Fifth Holy Grail War.

He had listened to their tales of what had become of the Grail and had shaken his head at the stupidity of the Einzbern Family and their single-minded pursuit of their lost Third Magic. He would have to have a word with the current head of the family, as well as Makiri Zouken. Zelretch enjoyed surprising and interesting events, but the appearance of [Angra Mainyu: All the World's Evil] in the real world was a threat as big as the Crimson Moon had been and he would not permit it to actualise. The Grail would be disassembled.

The Church would also have to be dealt with. Kotomine Kirei had been actively engaged in trying to summon Angra Mainyu, despite his post as the so-called 'impartial' observer of the Holy Grail War. He had killed Bazett Fraga McRemitz to steal her Servant, Lancer, and had almost succeeded in bringing forth Angra Mainyu had it not been for the actions of Emiya Shirou and Tōsaka Rin.

A cursory glance at other parallel worlds indicated that the Fifth Holy Grail War was a hotbed of trouble, but that the day was almost always saved by Emiya Shirou, Tōsaka Rin and a varied mix of other individuals. Only a handful of times had things escalated to the point of a Counterforce Intervention, and those had been worlds where Emiya Shirou was either dead or not a Magus.

' _A single boy being such a vital keystone to such a disastrous event…how interesting._ ' Zelretch thought in amusement as he breezed through the Clocktower, arranging for the charges to be dropped and laying the groundwork for the disassembly of the Greater Grail, ' _Not only that, the boy seems to have the Shōnen Protagonist ability to draw women to him like bees to honey._ '

Indeed, in almost every world, Emiya Shirou was surrounded by women; his guardian Fujimura Taiga, Tōsaka Rin and her estranged sister Matō/Makiri or Tōsaka Sakura, Artoria Pendragon, Medusa, Medea, Luviagelita Edelfelt and others being prominent characters in his life. Oftentimes, he fell for one in particular, but the boy sometimes had both of the estranged Tōsaka sisters and sometimes his former Servant, Saber, was his lover along with Tōsaka Rin, maintained in this world by a series of frequent tantric rituals.

With such interesting people, there was no way he was not going to interfere with them, was there?


	21. Transmutation

Grue had to resist coughing up blood as he slammed into the wall. Things had well and truly gone down the fucking toilet tonight.

The leader of the Undersiders struggled to his feet as Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu swiped at Tattletale, the blond Thinker barely managing to dodge the dragon man's razor sharp claws thanks to Regent desperately manipulating Lung's nervous system.

Bitch was down for the count thanks to Lung targeting her early on. Her dogs, Brutus, Angelica and Judas, stood over her comatose body, but she was vulnerable, which was why Grue had attacked under the cover of his darkness, to draw the man's attention.

Thus causing the brief flying incident just now.

"Grue! He's too much for us!" Tattletale yelled.

"Tell us something we don't know, blondie!" Regent snarked as he jabbed Lung in the side with his stun gun sceptre, having no visible effect.

"I am going to kill you all." Lung said calmly, "You robbed _my_ casino, you challenged _my_ power and for that, you die."

"Like hell!" Grue, Brian LaBorne, snarled at the man. He couldn't die here. Aisha was counting on him to get her away from their drug addict of a mother. "I refuse to die here and I refuse to let my _friends_ die here either!"

Before Lung could reply, a chuckle echoed around the area, making everyone still conscious look around for the source.

"Well spoken." A female voice said softly as a figure emerged from behind a building, "I couldn't agree more."

With that, she snapped her fingers at Lung, and the Dragon of Kyushu was engulfed in searing flames, his roar of agony evident to all.

"Get your teammate out of the way." The girl instructed Grue, "I can't fight him all out with her and her dogs in the way."

"Got it." Grue nodded. He didn't know who this girl was or why she wanted to fight Lung of all people, but he wasn't going to argue with her. "Tats! You know Bitch's signals, get those three out of the way so I can get to Bitch! Regent, help the newcomer."

"Fuck me, I always get the shit jobs around here." The other boy groused, "Got a name, Red?"

Now that Lung was on fire and illuminating the area, Grue could see, as he grabbed Bitch and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, that the new Cape was indeed wearing red; a red hooded coat that extended down to her calves. Underneath it, she wore black trousers and a black shirt. White gloves and a full-face mask completed the look. The mask was white, with an odd symbol of a cross with a snake wrapped around it emblazoned upon its surface.

"Alchemist." The girl replied before clicking her fingers again, a wave of ice appearing around Lung this time and impaling his limbs. It wouldn't stop him for long, but for long enough to get Bitch out of the line of fire, Grue hoped.

"Jeez, Rach. You have got to lay of the between meal snacking." He grumbled as he made it around the corner, where Tattletale and the three dogs were waiting for him. Easing her down to the ground, he backed off to let the dogs move into a protective formation around her.

Peeking around the corner, he spotted Alchemist clicking her fingers at Lung again, engulfing him in fire again.

"What's she doing? Thermokinesis?" He muttered to Tattletale.

"Looks like it." The blond Thinker replied, "But…there's something different about it. It's like that's not all she can do."

Tattletale's supposition was proven right as Lung bellowed in fury and charged out of the flames, aiming straight towards Alchemist. The red-clad Cape simply clapped her hands together and then slammed them palm first onto the ground.

Sparks flew from the ground before an enormous fist emerged from the ground and slammed into Lung's abdomen, making the Dragon of Kyushu retch before being flung back by the force of the blow, crashing into the warehouse behind him.

"Ow!" Tattletale flinched as her Thinker went into overdrive and gave her a migraine.

"Tats?" Grue said in concern.

"THAT…was just transmutation, Grue." The blond said as she massaged her temples, "Alchemist isn't just her name; it's a damn job description of how her powers work. Alchemy, the legendary power said to be able to convert base metals into gold. Looks like it can also mould other things too."

"Any limits?" Grue asked.

"She's bound by the Law of Equivalent Exchange and the Law of Conservation of Mass, at the very least." The Thinker replied, "Additionally, she seems to need to either snap her fingers or clap in order to use her powers, similar to a few other capes needing gestures in order to use their powers. I've shut my Thinker down for now as I have a bad Thinker Headache going on right now."

"Right. I'll go and get back in the fight. Keep an eye on Bitch." Grue nodded before darting back out.

Lung, in the meantime, had dug himself out of the warehouse and into another barrage of fire and ice from Alchemist, who was now alternating which hand she used for each attack. Lung was getting seriously pissed, because his mask had come off, replaced by a purely draconic visage. Flames not of Alchemist's creation surged along his arms and he now stood taller than the nearby warehouses.

"You have to put him down, now!" Grue shouted at Alchemist, "Before he gets too powerful!"

"You and the renaissance faire reject fall back and I'll do that!" the red Cape shouted back.

"Regent! Get your skinny butt out of there!" Grue ordered.

"Gladly!" the lanky Cape answered, "And my butt isn't skinny!"

As Regent got out of her range, Alchemist raised both hands and clicked them both at the same time. A massive tornado of fire engulfed Lung, his shriek of pain drowned out by the sound of flames.

"Are you insane?! You'll kill him!" Grue shouted.

"Any ordinary Parahuman perhaps, but not Lung." Alchemist spat back angrily, "Look!"

As she spoke, the tornado of flames died down, revealing Lung, knocked out on the ground and transforming back into his human form.

"What did you do?" the helmet wearing teen asked in awe.

"While the flames did hurt him, their main purpose was to surround him and consume all of the oxygen in that small area." Alchemist replied, "The air became so thin so quickly that he lost consciousness. Pardon me."

Clapping her hands together, she slammed them back down onto the ground. Bands of solid steel wrapped around Lung until he looked like an oversized cigar, with only his head visible. Alchemist repeated the process several times before deeming it sufficient and walking up to him, replacing his mask on his face.

"Not even the Dragon of Kyushu will have an easy time getting out of that straightjacket." She said in dark satisfaction, "You guys OK?"

"Bruises, burns and a few fractured ribs." Grue replied with a wince.

"A few minor burns." Regent reported, "And my shirt is ruined, in case anyone cares."

Tattletale bopped him on the head as she answered, "No one does. And I'm just exhausted. Eeesh. We seriously need to recruit more members if this kind of thing's going to happen whenever we knock over a casino."

"No, just his casino." Alchemist replied, "Seriously, anyone could have told you that the Ruby Dreams was Lung's. Why'd you rob it?"

"We had our reasons." Grue grunted, "Anyway, thanks for the assist. Don't think we could have lasted much longer."

"With the spirit that you showed against Lung, I think that you might be underestimating yourselves, but whatever." Alchemist shrugged, "Gotta say, didn't expect my first Cape fight to be against Lung of all people."

"Few people survive such a fight, so it's something to be proud of." Tattletale said cheerfully, before she looked down the street, "Shite. Armsmaster's coming. We have to skedaddle."

"I'll buy some time." Alchemist said and clapped. The next second a wall erupted from the ground , leaving Lung on Armsmaster's side and the Undersiders and Alchemist on the other side.

"This would be so much easier if Bitch was awake." Regent grumbled as he hefted the girl over his shoulder, "Jeez, lay off the burgers, dammit!"

"Quit your groaning, Regent." Grue sighed, "Alchemist, we have to go. Want to tag along? Armsmaster'll knock down that wall in a heartbeat."

"Eh, why not?" the red clad Cape shrugged, "I could use a bit of rest."

 **So yes, not a very long one this time. I'm sure you all grasp that this a FMA power fic, so that's that. Please remember to PM me if you want to borrow the ideas I'm posting here.**

 **Thinker: 10 (Able to memorise all chemical and alchemical reactions once learned and has an intuitive grasp of biology. Is able to recognise any and all chemical reactions just by sight and can determine the identity of a substance by a casual examination.)**

 **Shaker: 8 (Possesses the ability to transfigure and transmute her surroundings as she sees fit, within limits. She is bound by the Law of Conservation of Mass, meaning she cannot create something from nothing, and the Law of Equivalent Exchange, meaning she has to offer something of equal values to that being created. She cannot transmute anything into gold, or anything into humans. Nor can she turn organic matter into inorganic matter or vice-versa. The forms of the things she creates are only limited by her imagination. Requires a clap before any transmutation.)**

 **Blaster: 5 (Is able to use Thermokinesis to attack her enemies. This usually manifests as fire and ice. Requires a finger click before any transmutation. A double finger click squares the power of any transmutation performed after it.)**

 **Striker: 5 (Is able to instantly grasp the structure of anything she touches, although her ability to understand what she sees is limited by her knowledge of chemistry, alchemy and biology. Is also able to repair non-organic objects, albeit slowly.)**


	22. Trial by Fire

The gangbangers of the ABB automatically stepped back when the Cape appeared amongst them. They were used to seeing freaky things when it came to Capes; their leader frequently turned into a humanoid dragon for crying out loud!

Still, they had never seen a woman seemingly made entirely out of fire! _Blue_ fire at that!

She stood tall, as tall as any of the men, blue flames making up the entirety of her body. The heat was so intense that the street was melting beneath her feet as she walked, and the gangers could feel themselves start to sweat profusely even from several meters away.

"Who the fuck are you?!" the leader of the group of gangsters barked fearfully.

"Call me…Pyroclasm." The voice of the woman was tinged with the crackle of flames, "You can all either surrender…or you can get hurt. Your choice."

"Fuck you! Kill her!" the man barked, prompting the members with guns to pull them out and open fire at the flaming woman with reckless abandon.

A curtain of blue flames sprung up around the woman, absorbing the fusillade of bullets before vanishing, leaving behind scorched ground and puddles of melted lead.

"Are you done?" Pyroclasm asked coolly, "My turn then."

Swiping her hand through the air, a wave of ordinary orange flames erupted around her and engulfed the gangsters, who let out a chorus of shrieks. When the flames died down again, the gangers were lying twitching on the ground, clothes noticeably absent and their skin not even scorched.

"This is the only warning you will receive." The fiery Cape informed them, "Leave Brockton Bay or suffer the consequences."

Sprouting a pair of wings made of red fire, she shot into the sky and vanished from the ganger sight.

 _Later_

 _PRT HQ_

"What do you have?" Emily Piggot asked brusquely as she stormed into the meeting room. Armsmaster and Miss Militia looked up at her from the table they were sat at.

"Over thirty members of the ABB were attacked by a female Parahuman identifying herself as Pyroclasm." Armsmaster started, "She ordered them to surrender before they attacked her with handguns, which were blocked by a 'curtain of blue flames,' which was apparently hot enough to melt lead bullets. In case you didn't know, Director, the melting point of lead is 327.46 degrees Celsius. These flames were hot enough to melt the bullets _in an instant_."

Piggot scowled. "Pyroclasm…it sounds like a villain's name."

"To be fair, there aren't very many names available for fire using Capes that don't sound villainous." Miss Militia reasoned, "I'm just glad she shoes to stay away from anything remotely like Burnscar."

Grimacing, Piggot had to agree. The psychopathic Burnscar of the Slaughterhouse Nine was a very good reason why Pyrokinetics were treated with care and delicacy in case they went off the rails like she had.

"What happened after that?" she asked.

"Pyroclasm counterattacked." Miss Militia replied, "She unleashed a wave of orange fire that only destroyed the gangbangers' clothing before issuing her ultimatum to them and flying away on wings of red fire."

"Yes…this ultimatum is troubling." Piggot said with a frown, "What could she be planning to do with them if they don't leave Brockton bay?"

"It's a moot point." Armsmaster pointed out, "The BBPD have got ten of them on Illegal Possession of Firearms and the rest have signed confessions for cases of robbery, assault and several other charges for past unsolved cases, so they will be leaving the Bay for prison once the judge signs off on the order."

"It's the _principal_ of the thing, Armsmaster!" Piggot was exasperated with his inability to comprehend things like this, "An unknown, unaffiliated Parahuman has issued an ultimatum to the ABB. Just how well do you think Lung and Oni Lee are going to take that?"

Miss Militia winced at that. "Not well. He might just go on another rampage and we can't stop him."

"We are understaffed compared to the number of villains in the city, so we could ask for more reinforcements." Armsmaster opined.

Piggot snorted. "And the end result would be a great deal of excuses and perhaps a few new Wards, but no Protectorate transfers, which would do us almost no good whatsoever, unless they were a month or so away from turning eighteen. No, we can't do that. What I want done is for the city to be combed for this 'Pyroclasm' character and she is to be instructed to come in for questioning. Those ABB gangers were not actually breaking the law when they were attacked. What did she look like?"

"That's…she was covered in blue fire. That's all we got from the ABB gangers." Miss Militia said with a sigh, "It could be similar to Purity's light or it could be a Breaker or Changer form. For all we know, it's a man who Changed into a female form to throw us off."

"Urgh…" Emily hadn't thought of that, but she doubted it. Most shapeshifting powers changed Parahumans between their original form and another, inhuman, form, not into other genders.

At least not in the last thirty year history of Parahuman abilities. There had been that body possessing Cape in Newfoundland, Loki, who could take the form of anyone he had possessed, but he was well and truly dead; he'd been killed by Jack Slash five years ago.

"In any case, step up the search for Pyroclasm. I want her brought in and a member of the Wards or Protectorate ASAP." She said.

"Director, that might not be a good idea." Miss Militia cautioned her, "Shadow Stalker only stays because her power isn't especially powerful offence-wise. Pulling what Armsmaster did to Shadow Stalker on this Pyroclasm character could be a Very Bad Idea, especially if she goes off the deep end. Fire users often have a mental weakness built into their powers for some reason."

Piggot frowned. This was true. A surprisingly high number of fire-using Capes either became villains or suffered a mental breakdown at some point from overuse of their powers. It had never been explained to her satisfaction why that might be.

"…Fine." She allowed, "At the very least though, I want her in here, answering why she did what she did, as soon as possible."

 _The Next Day_

 _The Docks_

Pyroclasm, otherwise known as Taylor Hebert, flew across the sky over Brockton Bay's Docks area on her red fiery wings. She had heard on the news that about thirty ABB gagsters had been sent to prison for various offences.

Good.

She was tired of seeing her Dad come home day after day looking defeated when he lost more workers to the gangs, tired of seeing the Dockworkers Union grow closer and closer to becoming controlled by the Empire or the ABB and tired of nothing ever being done by the Protectorate or the police to curtail the power of the gangs.

' _A bunch of paper tigers, the lot of them._ ' She thought angrily, ' _Well then, let's see how the gangs handle someone who isn't willing to play nicely with them._ '

Ever since she had triggered three months previously, she had become more ruthless and focussed when she covered herself in her blue fire. It was like she became a different person altogether.

Her power, the ability to control fire, wasn't as simple as it sounded. She actually controlled seven flames that had various different effects. The blue fire was the one that couldn't harm her body no matter what and acted as a defensive shield, although it couldn't be used offensively for some reason. It also made her more focussed and more ruthless when she wore it.

Orange fire, like she had used against the ABB the previous day, could be used offensively, but only destroyed inorganic objects. She could even limit it to 'destroy only fabric' or destroy only metal' like she had the previous day.

The red fire was a bit of a mystery to her. She could use it offensively, but it didn't burn or melt anything. It was completely inert, seemingly without any special properties.

The other flames were green, white, black and yellow, none of which she had tried out before. Taylor got the feeling when she reached out to them that she couldn't control them well at the moment.

A loud roar came from beneath her and she looked down to see Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, flapping his wings and launching himself up at her, almost fully transformed into his dragon form while still being small enough to fly.

"DIE!" he roared and unleashed his own flames at her.

Instinctively, she raised one hand and shot a burst of her own red fire at him. The two bursts of flame collided and, as much to her own surprise as Lungs, her red fire absorbed the other flames in the area before vanishing.

' _An anti-fire flame…so cool._ ' Pyroclasm thought with a grin. This robbed Lung of his little flame parade that he liked to use. Now all she had to worry about was getting squashed like a bug in his talons. Yippee.

"'onna 'ill 'ou!" Lung roared as he beat his wings strongly and came at her. She surrounded herself with a shell of blue fire just before the taloned hand would have struck her. Instantly, the azure flames seared and scorched the offending limb, making Lung shriek in pain and draw back, smoke coming from his damaged limb.

Pyroclasm dropped her shield and glared at the leader of the ABB. "You have been causing my home to rot for years, Lung!" she spat at him, "Now you will leave here and never return!"

"'uck 'ou, 'itch!" the Dragon of Kyushu snarled back. His talon had almost finished regenerating already.

Her fist clenched in anger and to her surprise became surrounded by shimmering yellow flames. Drawing her fist back, Pyroclasm thrust it at Lung, sending a concentrated beam of flames at him. He tried to dodge, but lost his arm, leg, tail and wing. Seeing a look of pained shock on a draconic face was priceless, even more so as he plummeted down through the roof of a warehouse.

' _What the hell…? That wasn't fire, it was…plasma?!_ ' Pyroclasm thought in shock. It had been plasma, pressurised into a beam that had cut through Lung's armoured scales as if they hadn't even been there. She made a note to herself to not use the yellow 'flame' against anything other than Lung and Endbringers.

Touching down on the roof of the building opposite the warehouse Lung had crash landed in, she didn't have to wait long before the dragon man crashed through the doors as if they were made of tin foil. He had bulked up as he had regenerated his four missing limbs, with even thicker scales than before.

"Lee!" he boomed.

Pyroclasm's eyes widened as the black jumpsuited figure of Oni Lee appeared on the roof near to her, his leering mask only a few feet away. Then he charged forward, pulling the pin from the grenades on his bandolier as he did so. She threw up a wall of red fire just in time to neutralise the majority of the explosion. She was still sent stumbling by the displaced air pressure, right into Oni Lee's waiting knife.

Her flame armour melted the knife, but not before it pierced it and scored a cut on her lower back, making her gasp in pain. The tele-duplicator teleported again, leaving his copy to be consumed by Pyroclasm's blue flames.

A roar reminded her that Lung was still a problem. Pyroclasm could also hear him climbing the building she stood on, which was a pain. She took flight, avoiding another suicide bomb clone attack by Oni Lee by doing so.

' _Teleporter/Duplicators are a pain._ ' She thought as she hovered above the two ABB Capes. Lung with his strength and regenerative capabilities combined with Oni Lee's ability to suicide bomb without limit was a troubling team up.

"You know, this is becoming tiresome." She called down tauntingly to the two of them, "All the damage you've done to me amounts to a little scratch. Seriously, this is getting boring. Might as well finish it here and now."

Inside, she mentally reached out for the orange fire and unleashed a great sphere of it at the two capes. It exploded when it struck the building Lung was standing on, the orange flames consuming the building, all of Oni Lee's knives and grenades, as well as most of his bodysuit before he could teleport away.

Lung roared in fury as he was dropped back to ground level, Oni Lee appearing next to him almost stark naked.

Not a pleasant sight.

Lung gestured impatiently at Lee, who dissolved into dust after a moment. Evidently he had gone to rearm himself…and hopefully replace his bodysuit. The last thing Pyroclasm wanted to look at was Oni Lee's junk.

A feeling drew her attention inwards, where the green fire beckoned. She held out her hand, causing an emerald green spear made of flames to appear. Grabbing it, she pointed the point at Lung with a scowl. She altered the outer appearance of her flames so that whatever flame she was currently using was her eye colour to make herself look more intimidating.

"You don't want to get hit with this, Lung." She warned him as she drew it back, "Dodge it if you can!"

With that, she threw the spear down at the ground. She aimed it away from Lung but it seemed to have its own mind and tried to angle straight at the Dragon of Kyushu. With an act of will, she wrenched it back on course, landing it ten meters from Lung.

Upon impact, it exploded, releasing a seven meter wide pillar of green flames that stretched into the sky. The stone and concrete around the pillar started to melt and bubble from the extreme heat. After a moment, the green flames died down and vanished, leaving a deep pit in the ground.

Lung, meanwhile, had enhanced his growth until he stood head and shoulders above the warehouses. Pyroclasm groaned to herself. Lung was a stubborn bastard, so she'd actually have to hurt him. She had been hoping that little display would have made him retreat. Ah well. Time to dish out some pain.

She created another green fire spear and drew it back, ready to throw.

"You really should know when to retreat, Lung." She said softly before she threw it straight at the centre of Lung's chest. He countered with a massive gout of his own flames that met the green flames midway, but were parted easily by Pyroclasm's attack. The spear struck Lung's chest and exploded, surrounding the Dragon of Kyushu in a pillar of powerful green flames, even as Lung screamed in agony.

After a moment, the flames died away as they had done before, leaving Lung scorched all over, arms flopping uselessly at his sides as he first fell to his knees, and then crashed face down to the ground, reverting back to his human form and size.

Landing atop another nearby building that was unaffected by the fighting, Pyroclasm panted heavily. It seemed as if the extra energy to cover a building-sized Lung had been drawn directly from her reserves, which meant she was slightly exhausted at this point.

' _Jeez…I underestimate how powerful Lung is…_ ' she thought as her heavy breathing abated and she stood up properly once again, ' _Arrogance will get you killed every time. Good thing he was more arrogant than me this time around._ '

She was about to fly off when the sound of something being fired hit her ears. She looked around and was struck by a pair of bolas that wrapped around her arms and torso.

"What the…?!"

Looking at the direction the bolas came from, she spotted a familiar blue-armoured figure wielding a very distinctive weapon. Armsmaster.

"What the heck is this cord made of? Tungsten?!" Pyroclasm growled as she struggled against her restraints.

"A special Tinker-made alloy derivative that is especially resistant to heat, actually." The leader of the Protectorate ENE replied somewhat smugly.

"So the leader of the paper tigers finally puts in an appearance… _after_ I beat Lung." She sneered, "What is the meaning of this?!"

"The Director wants to have a word with you." The Tinker replied, "Regardless of whether you want to or not."

"I'm going to have to disagree with you there." Pyroclasm spat back and she stoked her flames, making them flare hotter, melting the alloy that Armsmaster was so proud of in less than thirty seconds.

"So then," she said as she crossed her arms, "what now?"

 **So here we have it, my twentieth Worm ficlet/snippet. I'll be putting up a poll to see what the priority of second chapters will be. Make sure you check my profile in the next day or so!**

 **Red Flames: Neutralise any other fire or plasma. Cannot burn or melt anything else.**

 **Orange Flames: Able to eliminate any non-organic matter they touch. Cannot harm organic matter.**

 **Blue Flames: Defensive fire that cannot be used to attack yet is able to sear and burn almost anything. If used as armour, enhances the user's ruthlessness and focus.**

 **Yellow Flames: Concentrated plasma fired as a beam that swiftly burns through its target.**

 **Green Flames: Concentrated fire that is fired as a projectile, exploding on impact to cause serious damage to the target. Instinctively seeks out the enemy of the wielder.**

 **White Flame: ?**

 **Black Flame: ?**

 **Mover: 4 (Able to grow Pyrokinetic wings to fly. Can also fly using jest of fire from the feet.)**

 **Blaster: 6 (Able to fire beams of plasma and spears of fire that can cause serious damage)**

 **Shaker: 6 (Can summon a black flame able to burn through almost anything, although it is very, very difficult to control)**

 **Striker: 4 (Able to emit a white flame that heals wounds, cures diseases and purifies infections.)**


	23. Critical Mass

It was bad.

The Slaughterhouse Nine, the boogiemen of the Cape world, had descended on Brockton Bay. Jack Slash, the leader. Bonesaw, one of the world's most adaptable Biotinkers and Biokinetics. Shatterbird, able to shriek a song that could shatter glass and anything silicon-based. Crawler, an adaptable regenerator said to be unkillable. Hatchet Face, able to negate powers as long as the user was within a certain radius of himself. The Siberian, killer of Hero and seemingly just as immortal and invulnerable as Crawler, she had never been wounded. Mannequin, a former-Tinker who sought to bring the despair he felt to all. Burnscar, a psychopathic Pyrokinetic who gloried in the casualties she caused. Finally there was Cherish, one of the spawn of Heartbreaker, able to manipulate the emotions of an entire city as she pleased.

They had been in town for less than two days and it was almost as bad as the immediate aftermath of an Endbringer attack. The PRT HQ, the Police station, New Wave's homes, the Protectorate HQ…all of them had been hit. Armsmaster, Assault, Dauntless, Kaiser, Oni Lee, Hookwolf and Fenja were dead, Emily Piggot was on life support and Glory Girl was missing an arm, thanks to Crawler eating it. There had been hundreds of non-Cape casualties in addition to those.

For all those casualties, the Nine weren't having it entirely their own way. Cherie and Burnscar were dead, Shatterbird had had her throat ripped out and Bonesaw was so busy keeping her alive that she hadn't had time to unleash more than one plague, which Panacea had helped to counter even as she helped her sister, while Mannequin was in Protectorate custody, trapped by Armsmaster's dying attack with a miniaturised force field containment unit that nothing seemed to be able to penetrate.

Now Jack Slash was strolling down a random street in Brockton Bay humming thoughtfully to himself. He looked utterly forgettable. Entirely normal, with nothing that made him stand out from the crowd. His power, which extended the blade of any bladed weapon he held to ridiculous ranges, with no loss of force behind it, was on the weaker side of Cape abilities, yet he was the longest living member of the Nine, not including Harbinger who had left after helping him kill King, the former leader of the Nine. He had survived where all those big bad motherfuckers had bit the bullet. Now _that_ was something to be proud of.

"Ah man…didn't expect Mimi to die here." He mused aloud as he waved a shaving razor around, randomly cutting mailboxes to pieces, "Cherie…yeah, she wasn't a surprise. But Mimi? Man, this sucks."

Brockton Bay was supposed to be a training run to keep their hand in at the random chaos and murder business, as they'd gone to ground to test Cherish for two months. The last thing he'd wanted was to get off his game. Instead, the cesspit of a city was resisting the Nine with everything it had and they were down by over half of the Nine, although only three were well and truly out of commission. He would have to see about getting mannequin out of the Rig at some point. Maybe after Shatterbird was up and running again.

"Recruits…need to find recruits now." He muttered. Well, it wasn't as if he wasn't spoilt for choice. Brockton Bay was full of Capes. Lung, Miss Militia, Battery…he'd have to poll the rest when he got back to their hideout. He'd cleared out the Dockworker's Union when they'd arrived in the Bay. Bonesaw had played with a few of them, but none had been very amusing for her, so she'd just killed them. After about ten hours.

He paused when a slim figure in a hooded cape strode out in front of him, about ten meters away. Jack peered at the figure in honest curiosity. Just about the only people who didn't run away from him were other members of the Nine and some select, stupid heroes. As he didn't recognise this character, it had to be a hero, probably a fresh Trigger.

"Why hello there!" he greeted the figure cheerfully, "Lovely day isn't it?"

"Jack Slash." The voice of the figure was young and female. She had to be just a handful of years older than Bonesaw.

"That's the name, girlie, don't wear it out." He replied flippantly, "Now, just to hurry things along, I'm presuming that I or my compatriots, have killed, maimed or otherwise harmed someone close to you and that you are here to avenge them, etc, etc. Am I right?"

"Something like that." The girl almost snarled back angrily. Jack had to supress a wild smile. There was something about killing those filled with righteous fury that he simply adored, never got tired of.

"Well now, that's the thing…" he said with an exaggerated shrug, "Me and my guys and gals have killed so many people since coming here that I have no clue as to who it could be. Care to drop a hint…such as your name?"

In answer, the girl cast off her cloak, revealing her costume. She was gangly thin, wearing a silvery costume with blue gloves and boots. She wore a blue face mask with no facial features whatsoever and a hood over the rest of her head.

"My name is Mass Effect." The girl bit out angrily, "That's all the information you're getting from me, monster. Today, you _will_ die."

"If I had a blade for every time I've heard _that_ line." Jack rolled his eyes before lashing out quickly with his weapon. It struck the side of the girl's neck…and bounced off. Jack blinked. _That_ didn't happen every day.

"Alexandria-type? Brute? Selective invulnerability?" he wondered aloud, "Let's test that, shall we?"

Lashing out a couple more times with his razor, he was disappointed to see that none of his cuts has so much as damaged the skin of her costume, let alone her actual skin.

"You're starting to bore me." Mass Effect said with a shake of her head and she raised her hand to point at Jack. Immediately, his little sixth sense, the part of his power that could detect whenever he was being targeted by a Parahuman power, started ringing like an Endbringer alarm. He dodged to the right just as the girl fired a grey beam at him, missing him by less than an inch.

Turning his head, he saw that an empty car had been hit by it and was being crushed by some kind of immense pressure even as he watched. Gravity, perhaps?

"That looks painful." He commented as he turned back to face Mass Effect. Seriously, she chose the name of an _Earth Aleph game_ as her Cape name? It was still better than Chubster, but still!

"If you want first-hand experience of it, stay still!" she growled ad started rapid-firing beams at him. As Jack dodged, he grimaced. He'd _hated_ Grey Boy with a passion and was glad the little creep was dead. Ever since, he'd avoided the colour grey though.

Grabbing his mobile, he hit the speed dial and connected with Hatchet Face. "Hey there. I'm in a spot of bother here, so could you get over here and deal with this for me?"

" _Parahuman?_ " the Parahuman-hating Parahuman asked.

"Yup. Look, get your ass over here, pronto." Jack told him. Out of all of the Nine, Hatchet Face was the most mobile aside from the Siberian with Shatterbird down and Burnscar dead. His ability to neutralise Parahuman powers would teach this slip of a girl not to mess with him.

" _On my way._ " The Brute/Trump told him before hanging up.

"The great Jack Slash begging for help…what a let-down." Mass Effect said scornfully.

Jack frowned slightly before plastering a grin on his face. No point showing the little so-and-so that she was getting to him.

"Well, considering you can't seem to be affected by my knife, it's only logical to send someone in who can hurt you." He replied jovially, "Hatchet Face _hates_ Brutes, just so you know. A bit contradictory considering he's a Brute too, but there you have it."

"He's a power-negator, but only within a certain radius of himself." Mass Effect shrugged, "I did my research on you murder-hobos. With Mannequin, Burnscar and Cherish out of the picture, that only leaves six of you to go."

"I'd _dearly_ love to see someone who could even hurt the Siberian!" Jack laughed, "Ditto for Crawler. Hell, _he'd_ love that. He really gets no challenges these days. Being a bit tough doesn't mean squat in the big leagues, kid. Hit the road if you don't get that."

"I don't exactly care. I _will_ kill you or die trying." Mass Effect stated unequivocally. Her voice was as hard as granite and the power pulsing off her was…troubling, to say the least.

She clenched her gloved hand into a fist before kneeling down and punching the road surface. For a moment, nothing happened and Jack was tempted to make a joke about how that was taking 'hit the road' a bit too literally, but then he started to feel…light.

Looking down, his eyes widened as he saw that he was literally floating off the ground! He tried to somehow return to solid ground, but with no success as he was rising up higher and higher. Around him, he could see a lot of other things floating into the air; cars, mailboxes, garden ornaments and even one very confused looking cat.

"Yeah, you and me both, pal." He told it before returning his attention to Mass Effect and realised that her name wasn't in homage of the game; it was a descriptor of her power. She could control the mass of things around her. Her beams could increase the mass of something, up until the point where they were crushed by their own weight, apparently. This…whatever _this_ was…made things and people lighter, to the point that Newtonian Laws were apparently repealed for her victims.

She was likely increasing the mass of her suit to the point that it was so dense that his knife couldn't cut it either. How? There was usually a limit to how much one could increase the mass of something…

He spotted several clumps of dust that vaguely resembled cars over by where the girl had come from. Ah. So she could absorb and redistribute the mass of things as well. That explained it. Jack couldn't see any organic piles, so either she was too squeamish to drain the mass of organic beings or she couldn't do that because of the Manton Effect. Either way, it was a pass for him.

"So, what? Are we just going to float here all day?" he asked her as she floated up to the same level as him.

"No… _you_ are going to go say hello to the Simurgh on your way to Mercury." Mass Effect said plainly, "Dying in space, alone and unlamented…a fitting end for a vainglorious monster such as you."

Actual fear started to flicker in his heart before he ruthlessly quashed it. He was Jack Slash, dammit! He had killed King! He was the dark shadow of the Parahuman world! Like hell he'd just die at the hands of this brat!

Jack reached into his pocket and drew out an old combat knife he had taken from some old army vet a couple of years ago before lashing out with both blades in a scissor manoeuvre, attempting to take the brat's head off, but as before, his blades didn't even scratch her!

She floated in closer and grabbed his knives, reducing them to dust as she absorbed their mass into herself. Now completely disarmed, Jack tried in vain to grab the brat so he could wring her neck, but she seemed to be able to control his body somewhat inside this…buoyancy field …that she had created and wrenched him away from her, thrashing and roaring in fury.

"Now…fly, Jack." Mass Effect snarled at him, "Die!"

Before she could do anything to back up her words, a naked zebra-striped woman flew at her. The Siberian.

' _About bloody time, William!_ ' Jack thought testily. Something that he had drilled into the heads of all of the Nine was that if he asked for backup, he needed backup five minutes ago. Calling Hatchet Face had been him getting the rest of the Nine, aside from Bonesaw and Shatterbird, into gear.

Mass Effect dodged the flying woman and tried to blast her with her grey beam of weight, but as with all powers, it failed against the projection of William Manton's daughter. When the Siberian came around again, she slammed a fist into Mass Effect's body.

Unusually, the girl didn't go flying off into the distance coughing up blood or getting ripped in two by the punch. Jack blinked slowly in disbelief. Only Alexandria herself had tanked a hit from the Siberian that well before and even _that_ colossus had coughed up blood from it. Sure, the brat was writhing a bit and the mask meant he had no idea if she _had_ coughed up blood or not, but still…

"Your choice, bitch…me or him?" Mass Effect asked in a grunt as Jack found himself flying higher into the air very rapidly. Throwing the Cape a dirty look, The Siberian shot after Jack, leaving Mass Effect to speed off herself.

 _Later_

 _With Jack_

Ladies and gentlemen…that little _lady_ is a problem." Jack announced bluntly. Around him, the remaining six members of the Slaughterhouse Nine were gathered. Crawler looked intrigued by the girl, almost slobbering (he _was_ slobbering, in point of fact) to go after her.

"A Cape who can tank a hit from Siberian without dying and isn't Alexandria? Sign me up!" he boomed .

"Mr. Jack, can I experiment on her Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma?" Bonesaw asked excitedly. The girl was hopping excitedly.

"Once we've taught her the error of her ways, poppet." Jack reassured her, "Hatchet Face, where on earth were you while I was almost shot into the stratosphere?"

"Lady Photon, Laserdream and Shielder, along with that armour boy…Gallant." The Cape Killer grunted, "Had to jump into the sewers to avoid them."

Jack scowled. Doubtless New Wave were trying to avenge the damage done to Glory Girl.

"Well that explains that. Poppet, how's Shatterbird?"

"Whoever tore her throat out did a bang-up job of it." Bonesaw pouted, "The only reason she survived this long was because she covered the wound in glass to seal it shut long enough for me to stich things together. She's still weak and I need more biomass to work with before I can get her back to 100%."

"It was Bitch/Hellhound's mutant dog things that did that." Hatchet Face grunted as he sharpened his axe, "Stupid songbird was flying too low and got caught off guard by them jumping from a rooftop."

"And on that note…nominations to replace Cherish and Burnscar please." Jack grinned.

 _With Mass Effect_

Stumbling into her house's back door, Mass Effect took off her mask, revealing the pale features of one Taylor Hebert. Casting the mask aside, making a sizable dent on the floor as she did so, she slumped into a chair and started to pull her costume off.

Looking down at the large discoloured bruise that was spread across most of her torso, she grimaced. She had just wasted the best possible chance to eliminate Jack Slash, when he was separated from the rest of the Nine. He was too smart to let himself get caught alone like that again now he knew that she was after him.

Her 'Cape Phone' started ringing and she sluggishly picked it up.

"Hi Parian." She said with a wince. She winced again, this time at the loud voice being broadcast down the connection.

"No, I wasn't trying to die...how do you even…oh, great. So people saw me get my ass kicked. Lovely."

She technically worked for Parian as a bodyguard, although her costume for that job was very different than the one she currently wore; a purple bodysuit with padding making for a more…womanly figure, a shoulder-length cape, white gloves and a mask resembling a serene woman. People knew her as Beatdown in that guise.

"Look, I have to do this…no…NO, Parian, I will not reconsider." Taylor said sharply, "He was my Dad, Parian. I can't just sit back and do nothing while his murderers run free. Look…huh? New Wave? What about them….? Crawler did _what_ to Glory Girl?! Yeah, they'll have an axe to grind…team up? Yeah right. The only one who can tank one of the Siberians punches is Glory Girl herself and she's been very _literally_ disarmed!"

She listened again. "Hatchet Face? Shit, yeah, I forgot he was on the way. OK, look, I'll think about it tomorrow, OK? I just got punched by the fucking _Siberian_ , so I need to rest and heal. Yeah…uh-huh…keep safe yourself. I mean it. Close up shop. Jack's a mad fucker; he'll come after you for the shits and giggles if for no other reason. Yeah, I'm serious. Come over to my place…yes, I'm serious. OK, see you in half an hour. Yeah…bye."

Taylor sighed before staggering to her feet and tottering to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom for some pain relief before staggering to bed. She was out like a light before her head hit the pillow.

 **So, yeah. This takes place three months after the locker incident, right about where Lung and the Undersiders would be throwing down. It does mean I sped up Cherish's recruitment and killed off someone other than Hatchet Face, but meh. Again, not a very good name, but better than Beatdown, I think you will agree.**

 **Striker: 3 (Able to absorb the mass of non-organic objects via touch. This mass can then be redistributed as she likes, into weapons or her costume, but is defaulted to increasing her strength and durability without her input.)**

 **Brute: 4+ (Can increase her own mass to a certain extent, granting her superhuman strength and durability. In order to go beyond her built-in limit, she must use her Striker ability.)**

 **Blaster: 3 (Able to fire grey beams from her hand that increase the mass of anything it hits. Taylor is able to adjust the amount of mass from a minor inconvenience to crushing the target underneath its own weight.)**

 **Mover: 3 (Able to reduce her own mas to the point that she can run and jump faster. Is even able to reduce her mass enough that she can glide rather than fall from heights.)**

 **Shaker: 4 (Is able to create a field within which she controls the mass of everything caught by it. The larger the radius of the field, however, the less control she has and the harder it is to maintain.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Able to instantly read the amount of mass any object or creature has. Automatically knows her own mass down to ten decimal points and can sense the mass around her, up to fifty feet away. Can be fooled by projections, such as the Siberian, as they have no mass per-se.)**


	24. Mash Some Metal!

Assault stared at the scene in unrestrained amusement. Battery, his wife, looked resigned as she awaited his inevitable outpouring of puns and bad witticisms.

"Well," the former villain said with a grin, "these fellas certainly knew when to call it a wrap! Eh, Puppy?"

Battery sighed and smacked her husband across the back of his head almost on reflex.

The scene they were looking at was that of a warehouse in the docks. On the walls, several members of the Merchants were secured via several lengths of metal, wrapped around their chests and limbs that had been ripped from the ceiling. On the ground at their feet, Skidmark, the leader of the drug addicts, was secured via having several lengths of those self-same metal lengths wrapped around him until he resembled nothing more than a human tortilla. Whoever had done it had also wrapped metal around his mouth to shut the man up. Even now, the muffled sounds of cursing could be heard from the man.

"Call in the regular police and the PRT." Battery told her husband with a sigh, "Have them bring some cutting tools here as well. Things just got interesting."

 _Later_

 _Interrogation Room, PRT HQ_

"It was a fuckin' cunt-licking knight!" Skidmark roared in fury, the Tinker-made bracelets around his wrists kept him from moving them more than an inch away from the table before they were dragged back down.

"A knight?" Armsmaster queried. He and Miss Militia were doing the interview with Skidmark, as Assault was too immature to be trusted on that front.

"Yeah, a walking ironmongery!" the Merchant leader snarled, his badly discoloured teeth gritted at the memory, "Ripped a fuckin' hole in the wall, waltzed in and order us to surrender! Fucking cum-gargling bastard!"

Beneath her bandana, Miss Militia grimaced. She hated the smell that the man had around him. Skidmark was obviously of the opinion that hygiene was something that happened to other people.

"Mush rolled up his basher and went at her," Skidmark continued, on a roll now, referring to Much's ability to gather trash around him to use as a form of golem armour, "Squeals loaded up on her sweet new ride, a sonic cannon mounted on it, and let rip at the ball licker!"

"What happened then?" Armsmaster asked in a monotone.

"Mush went and swerved into the middle of the fucking cannon's blast, didn't he!?" Skidmark sounded as if he couldn't believe it, "Blasted him to hell and gone through the damn hole in the wall! Then something happened to the cannon before Squeals could fie another shot! It…it crumpled up like a can getting crushed! Squeals got outta there and the entire thing imploded!"

The Protectorate's leader frowned. Just off the top of his head, he could think of three things that could cause the things that Skidmark described; Telekinesis, Magnekinesis and Ferrokinesis. Time to narrow it down.

"At any time did the 'knight' do anything more than stand there?" he asked.

"Fuck no! Bastard must have been too busy laughing at us!" Skidmark spat angrily, "I loaded up my blues and got ready to kick his cunt in, but the fucker attacked me from behind somehow and wrapped me up in metal like a fucking cigar! That's when my boys scattered and ran, though some attacked the bastard and got pinned to the watt with overgrown fucking staples!"

Over 90% of Shaker and Blaster Telekinetics required the use of hand gestures in order to direct their power properly. The same applied to those who used the other two powers unfortunately. The fact that metal had been used almost exclusively pointed towards either Ferrokinesis or Magnekinesis though.

All the metal that had been manipulated during the incident had been iron or steel, which lessened the likelihood of it being Telekinesis. The only flaw to that line of reasoning was when Mush had been hurtled into the line of Squealer's sonic cannon. There had been metal scraps mixed into the rubbish that he had used as his exosuit (for lack of a better term), but most of it had been food wrappers, dirt and a lot of aluminium beverage cans.

' _Ferrokinesis or Telekinesis. It has to be one of the two._ ' He decided. Normally, aluminium isn't magnetic, so it would take a hell of a lot of power to make a mass of cans move to the degree that it had, against Mush's own control. That eliminated Magnekinesis. The last two, Ferrokinesis and Telekinesis were, as he had thought, more likely to be this mysterious Parahuman's power.

After having Skidmark taken back to his cell, Armsmaster conferred with Miss Militia. "What do you think?"

"Either a strong Telekinetic or a Ferrokinetic." She said, "As whoever did this was able to manipulate metal without even needing to look elsewhere, I have to assume he or she has some sort of sense for metal to be able to manipulate them so easily and without looking at them, so a Ferrokinetic makes more sense."

Armsmaster nodded judiciously. That jibbed with his own suppositions.

"When is Skidmark supposed to be sent to the Birdcage?" he asked. Due to the Merchant Cape's unhealthy addiction to drugs and his gang's habit of addicting children to those drugs, the man would be sent to the Birdcage in Canada and the key thrown away. Good riddance to bad rubbish in the Tinker's opinion.

"In two days' time." Miss Militia replied, "We'll have to assign guards to the convoy; Squealer and Mush are going to try and break Skidmark out."

"I know." Armsmaster replied irritably, "But you know what the director's opinions about convoy escort duty are."

The woman grimaced. Emily Piggot tried to ensure that PRT troopers got as many chances to prove they could do every duty that the Protectorate did just as well, especially guarding Parahumans in-transit. Conversely, this meant that the escape ratio of villain Capes was at 70% compared to the 45% in other cities.

"I'll try and talk to her." The female Cape sighed, "The Wards shouldn't be on duty then, so maybe Velocity or Dauntless will be assigned. God knows I intend to go along. It's becoming ridiculous how often villains have been broken out of our custody before even leaving the city limits. Maybe that will get her to see some sense."

 _Two Days Later_

It had.

She hadn't been happy about it. In fact, Director Piggot had been almost incandescent about the fact that Miss Militia was using her failures as a Director to ensure that the convoy carrying Skidmark had a Protectorate presence. This would have repercussions if Skidmark got away, but it was a worth it.

Miss Militia generally liked Emily. She understood why the Director was as hard on Parahumans as she was; anyone would be after being one of only two survivors of the Ellisburg Disaster, when the creations of the S-Class villain Nilbog devoured the townspeople and the heroes of the time abandoned the PRT troopers in order to save themselves. That kind of betrayal could affect anyone badly.

Emily, however, took it to extremes. She forcibly took leadership of the Wards away from Armsmaster, even with her own busy schedule. She refused to allow Panacea to heal her, though she was morbidly obese and on dialysis every day. And she tried so hard to prove that Parahumans weren't needed that the woman behind the bandana had to ask herself if Piggot had been released from therapy a bit too soon.

Still, now that she was here, leading the convoy she had to get her head into the game. She had Dauntless and Triumph on her detail, along with two squads of PRT troopers. She was in the front of the prison wagon, while Triumph was in the back with Skidmark (he wasn't happy) and Dauntless was taking up the rear car following them.

Thus far, nothing had gone wrong.

Seeing Mush stomp at them in a large body made of trash did not inspire confidence in her. She pressed her earpiece.

"Miss Militia to all units. We have confirmed sighting of Mush. As of yet, no sign of Squealer or any regular Merchants. I'll be dealing with Mush. Dauntless, you keep an eye open for Squealer. Triumph, stay put."

" _On it._ " Dauntless replied.

" _I'll put in an extra air freshener._ " Triumph grumbled.

"Director Piggot to Miss Militia." Came over the radio and Hannah had to sigh.

"Yes Director?"

" _You were right. Don't screw this up._ " The line died as soon as she finished.

' _That was odd._ ' Was all the time Miss Militia devoted to the conversation before she leaned out of the window and formed her power into a Tinkertech rifle that fired miniaturised rocket-propelled grenades. She'd seen it being made by Masamune a year or so ago and hadn't had a chance to use it until now.

Firing off a dozen rounds that smashed into Mush's trash body, they detonated, sending the Merchant Cape tumbling into a building, trash scattered and scorched.

" _This is Dauntless. I have eyes on Squealer! She has a fucking tank!_ " came over her earbud. She didn't have time to ponder how the Tinker had managed to throw together a tank in two days.

"Loadout?"

" _A BFG on a turret with a fuck-ton of other weapons crammed around it!_ " the former BBPD officer replied, " _It's coming up on our six fast- Shit! Right!_ "

Miss Militia winced as she got a double-whammy of hearing the explosion through her earbud then hearing it an instant later in real life. "Dauntless, report!"

" _Ride's fucked, the PRT troopers are hurt and I'm working my way out of a crashed car._ " He replied tersely, followed by a grunt of effort, " _Be advised, that main cannon packs a punch! I'll secure the troopers before catching up to you._ "

"Roger that, Dauntless." She replied even as Mush finally accumulated enough trash to stand up again. He started charging towards the speeding, albeit diminished, convoy. She fired off another spread of Mini-RPG's even as he dodged them; the safety devices making them detonate harmlessly as they sailed past the distances programmed into the crude V.I.'s each shell possessed.

Then, things became serious as the knight appeared. Floating in the air, it cast an impressive figure. Looking very much like a medieval knight out of Arthurian legend, it floated in place with its arms crossed and head cocked to one side, giving off what Miss Militia could swear was an aura of exasperation.

The roar of a canon made her flinch as Squealer's bastardised tank caught up with them and immediately fired a round at the knight, who didn't even move.

It didn't have to as the shell was trapped mid-flight, frozen in place before it reversed course and slammed into the tank, detonating with a loud explosion that stopped the tank in its tracks.

The knight actually moved at this point, giving Miss Militia a casual salute and then making a shooing gesture before lowering itself to the ground in front of Mush, who tried to slam a trash-laden fist into it. With the shriek of tortured metal, one of the streetlights nearby was ripped from its anchors and used as an oversized baseball bat to send the Merchant Cape sprawling. Then, as a dozen or so more streetlights were ripped from their places as well, the metal of the first shimmered and liquefied, becoming a silvery ball in the air, the non-metallic extras falling to the ground.

' _I guess that resolves the debate on what this Knight's power is._ ' Miss Militia thought as the van she was in sped past the armoured figure. In the side mirror, she spotted the other streetlights being turned into liquid metal before the concoction was sent at Mush, coating the outer surface of the man's trash golem body with the metal before it returned to solidity, trapping the Cape in his own creation.

 _Later_

 _Director's Office, PRT HQ_

"So then, who is this Cape and why help us?" Director Piggot asked.

"Dragon has gone over the surveillance footage in the area and has deemed it likely, although not absolutely proven, that whoever the Knight Parahuman is, they were shadowing the convoy to ensure Skidmark remained in custody." Armsmaster replied in his usual monotone, "As he or she was covered head to toe in armour, it is not possible to speculate to his or her identity."

"Whoever it was eliminated Squealer's tank before it did much damage though." Miss Militia put in, "How are those troopers doing?"

"Three have broken limbs, one has a broken back and several more have cracked or broken limbs." Piggot replied shortly, "Panacea will be asked tomorrow come in and heal them. Give my…thanks…to Dauntless; had he not stayed to evacuate and provide emergency first aid to them, the troopers might have more serious injuries."

"I'll pass that along to Dauntless." Hannah's eyes were wide as she spoke. Emily Piggot only ever begrudgingly praised Parahumans and even then at the direction of Chief Director Costa-Brown.

"So then, what manner of powers does this new Cape possess?" Piggot asked after a moment.

"He or she is a powerful Ferrokinetic; a metal manipulator." Armsmaster replied shortly, "In addition to manipulating metal as if it were balsa wood, they can also liquefy metal without melting it, which is likely how the knight made their armour."

"He or she was also able to affect metal on a wide scale, so I'd peg them at being a Shaker 4 or 5 at least. Maybe higher given the liquefaction/solidification ability." Miss Militia put in, "Haven't seen someone pull that one in a while."

"And a code name?"

"Assault wanted to call him/her 'Metal Soul' or some such nonsense." Armsmaster grimaced, "I overrode him and had the name altered to Metal _Knight_ , pending your approval."

"Consider it given." Piggot said with a sigh, "As thankful as I am that Skidmark is now out of circulation for good, we cannot depend on this happening again. Having an unknown Cape doing the Protectorate and PRT's job for us is not good PR. Have orders issued to all members of the Protectorate and Wards that Metal Knight is to be asked to come in for a debrief. _Courteously_. And for god sake, make sure someone mature is paired with Assault and Clockblocker!"

 **So the votes are in, regarding my poll. First up to have a second chapter is Taylor the Gamer, followed by Gaia, Avatar and Pyroclasm. The rest will follow in order after that. First though, I have to finish the little list I have here…**

 **Shaker: 6 (Able to freely control every type of metal around her for three blocks. She cannot create any metal, but she can alter the density, shape, efficiency and solidity/liquidity of the metal. She is also able to reverse the rusting effect on metal and restore it to full strength, as well as have it polished until it shines.)**

 **Striker: 3 (Able to turn everything from her forearms to the tips of her fingers to metal and then alter them as she sees fit, allowing her to enhance her attacks and even replace her forelimbs if she loses them.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Able to detect all metal around her with the same radius as her Shaker ability. Able to determine the size and structural integrity of the metal without even seeing it.)**


	25. At My Fingertips

Parahuman abilities come in all shapes and sizes. From the 'flying brick' type, commonly referred to as the Alexandria-type after the most impressive Cape of that skillset, to the super science type, Tinkers, who can create wonders beyond modern technology.

Not all powers were awesome. Not all of them were powerful. You had hydrokinetics who could barely control a litre of water, pyrokinetics who needed already-present fire in order to use their abilities and other powers which were either weak or had a lot of limitations to them.

My own power was weak. I'm Taylor Hebert, and my power is the ability to read the past of anything I touch. Not much of a power in exchange for getting stuffed inside of a locker with biological waste, suffering a mental breakdown and blood poisoning and then being hospitalised for a fortnight, is it?

It got so bad that the hospital had to call on Panacea in order to heal me. She listed off a bunch of weird names in Latin that was apparently running through my bloodstream, looking quite angry. She offered to put my Dad in contact with Brandish, her mother, who was also a lawyer, so we could sue the school, which he accepted.

I was healed, but I didn't tell Dad or Panacea that I could read everything about Panacea's, Amy 'Amelia' Dallon's, history as she touched my arm. I knew she had fallen over and scraped her knee when she was learning how to ride a bike when she was much younger, that she was mentally bone weary and had been for some time due to her punishing healing schedule and that her sister Glory Girl's aura had been mindfucking her ever since she hit puberty.

It wasn't until I got home that I realised that my power had done something unexpected; it had copied Panacea's ability to read the health of someone I touched, which was frightening. Somehow, my power had read Panacea's own ability and copied it, incorporating it into my power.

I decided to do some research and, as Winslow was giving me a week off, decided to do the thing properly. At the library, I sat at a computer and trawled the web to discover what it was I could do.

Psychometry, the ability to see the information about an object or person. That was what it was called. My own version included retrocognition, the ability to see into the past of the object or person and tactile empathy, the ability to read the emotional state of a person by touch. I could also pick up emotions left in objects.

After absorbing all that, I trawled PHO and determined that I was a Thinker/Striker, and not what I'd call a powerful one. I'd be a big hit with the BBPD for my power, but catching criminals? No way.

The ability to recreate someone else's power was definitely under the Trump section, with Eidolon being the most famous Trump on the planet. I guessed it was still linked to my Striker ability, so it was useless as well. What kind of Cape would just let me walk up to them and touch them?

That put me in a depression for a couple of days before I discovered another facet to my power.

I was tidying up the old tool kit that Dad had; an old hammer, rusted saw, screwdriver, etcetera, when it happened. I picked up the hammer and had a vision of my dad using it. Curiously, I tugged at the image and I felt knowledge flowing into me on how to use the hammer as my dad had; how to grip it, how to swing it…everything.

This added a new facet to my powers. If I could absorb how to use objects that had been used, I could learn how to shoot and fight using them. I had to experiment with this.

Dad had never fired the gun in the house, but I guessed someone had to have test-fired it before it was sold, so I used the opportunity while Dad was at work to touch it. As I suspected, Dad had only ever picked it up, reluctantly at that, a grand total of once, when he bought the thing. Before that, the shopkeeper had test-fired it in the range he had in the back of his shop six times and before that even, the manufacturer had test-fired it extensively.

I absorbed the knowledge on ballistics that they had left on the gun, but it took some time, far longer than with the hammer. Was it because I wasn't related to the person who wielded it? I didn't think so. At a guess, it had to do with the length of time since those people had wielded the gun. Dad had bought it two years ago, the shopkeeper had bought it from the manufacturer two years before that and it had been made a year before that, so I was reaching five years back in time.

Still, Dad would notice if the gun went missing, so I had to think of something else. Martial arts would be good, but my body wasn't exactly fit. My newly acquired medical scanner power was telling me that I had almost no stamina and my muscles were not exactly at the peak of fitness either.

So I exercised. Running, push ups, sit-ups, the works. I used my scanner power to monitor my fitness to see what exercises were getting the best results.

While I was doing that, Carol Dallon, Brandish, was on the warpath against Winslow and against Emma's father, Alan Barnes. After being presented with my bully diary, she had, metaphorically speaking, smacked Mr Barnes over the head with it and made him realise just how screwed Emma was. Having the reputation of being an active hero had opened people's lips and made them talk to her. Suddenly, the 'lack of witnesses' to my locker incident was turned around, with plenty of people coming forward to point the finger at Emma and Sophia…including Madison, who hadn't a clue as to what they had had planned for me until after it happened.

As you'd expect, Alan forced Emma to sign something similar to a plea bargain, confessing to her crimes and giving information about Sophia's in exchange for leniency in her sentence. She wasn't sent to Juvenile Hall, but she was sent to a shrink. She also lost her modelling job and was grounded until she graduated.

As for Sophia…she went straight to Juvvie; no passing go or collecting $200. I didn't hear much about her case on the news though, which was odd. Emma and Madison had been on it, but not Sophia. This made me suspicious, but I had far more important things to worry about aside from Sophia.

It took me three weeks to get up to a decent level of fitness, but when it happened, I signed up for self-defence classes. Every time I sparred with someone, I absorbed some of their skill with the discipline. I was also chosen to be the demonstration dummy by the instructors a lot, so I got a lot of it memorised quickly. I still went to classes, even after I memorised everything, because learning the skills with my talent replication wasn't the same as mastering them.

School was going on as well. After I had set Brandish on them, the staff at Winslow were wary of me and cracked down on bullying, which was time and past time that it happened.

Suddenly, bad news struck me; Sophia Hess had run away from the Juvenile Correction Facility and had left a note swearing revenge on 'the bitches who betrayed her and that fucker Hebert' behind. This prompted Dad to buy me some Mace and a retractable baton for self-defence.

Today, I had gotten home from school and started cooking dinner for when Dad got home when a slight creak on the floorboards at the entrance to the kitchen alerted me to the fact that I wasn't alone. I turned around quickly and gaped as Sophia Hess started to raise a crossbow at me. Recovering from my shock, I dodged to the side just as she squeezed the trigger, the bolt flying through where my head had just been.

"Fuck!" the former queen bee of Winslow snarled, "Hebert! I'll kill you one way or another, so stay still! Fucking pathetic prey should just bow to the predators!"

"Why the hell can't you just leave me alone?!" I shrieked back as I stood up and glared at her, "I didn't do anything to you that would deserve this! You took my friend; you tortured me for almost two years and for what? Tell me!"

"Because I'm a fucking predator and you are prey, bitch!" Sophia sneered back.

My anger boiled over at that point and I threw what I had in my hand at her; a vegetable knife. Just as it was about to hit her, she turned into a shadow, the knife passing through her as if it wasn't even there.

As she changed back, I was struck dumb for only a moment before I exploded in anger. "Shadow Stalker?! A mad bitch like _you_ was a _Ward?!_ "

It all made sense to me now…why Winslow had ignored my plight, why no complaint had ever so much as registered with them. It might also explain why my transfer request to Arcadia, back when my grades had still been good enough, had been shredded in front of me by the secretary. I had been a sacrifice to keep Sophia, to keep _Shadow Stalker_ , happy and at Winslow in the event of gang-related violence going out of control.

The cold, hard logic made sense to my logical side, but my emotional side was ablaze with fury. How _dare_ they do that to me?! How _dare_ they treat me like…like…like a fucking animal?!

"Not any more, bitch." Sophia ground out as she drew a long curved knife from a sheath on her leg, "Once I'm done with you, I'll fillet those two traitors as well, then leave this shithole of a city."

I grabbed the baton that I had yet to take off and extended it. "Not if I have any say in the matter, Sophia!"

We locked eyes and a long moment passed before Sophia charged at me, knife in hand to cut me. Fortunately for me, part of the self-defence course I had been on was this exact scenario, protecting myself from someone coming at me with a knife while I only had a baton. Sophia's eyes widened as I leaned back and avoided her first cut, and then yelped with pain as I smacked the back of her hand with my baton, making her drop the knife. I tried to follow it up with a kick to the stomach, but she used her power to become insubstantial again.

I winced as she punched me on the shoulder when she became corporeal again, but it wasn't that sore. Sophia was again surprised by the fact that I hadn't dropped from that blow. I wasn't the same girl she had bullied over two months ago.

Slamming my baton into her stomach made her double over, wheezing in pain. Followed up with a knee to her face, breaking her nose, I threw her out of the kitchen, wailing in pain. I took the time to kick the knife away into the corner before advancing on her.

"You broke my fucking nose!" she shrieked at me.

"I'll do worse to you by the time I'm done with you, Sophia!" I growled back, "I have fifteen months of torment to pay you back for."

"You never had the balls!" she shot back arrogantly.

"No; I was just a better person." I snapped at her, "I knew that Highschool doesn't last forever, that anything you bitches could pull on me would ultimately be useless in the end. I refused to lower myself to your level, refused to strike back. Ultimately, I'm a stronger person than you are."

"Bullshit! I'm a-" Sophia started to say, but I interrupted her.

"You're a predator, yes; I got it the first time. Thing is, being powerful and being strong are different things." I said idly as she staggered to her feet, "You are powerful, physically, but your little prey/predator thing makes you predictable and weak. I may not have been physically powerful, but I was and still am mentally strong. I endured everything you threw at me, words, deeds and punishments, and have come out of it stronger than before. I am strong, you are just powerful."

Sophia let out a scream of fury and charged at me. She wasn't even thinking of using her power right now; she was wholly consumed with the need to punish me, to hurt me. I could see the wildness in her eyes as she drew closer. No sign of sentient life there.

I sidestepped her, tripped her up so she landed jaw-first on the floor and then slammed my baton down on the back of her head a couple of times to ensure that she was knocked out. After watching her for a moment, I grabbed some duct tape and proceeded to hogtie the bitch, ensuring that she couldn't move an inch before I picked up the phone.

" _Parahuman Response Team, how can we help?_ " a bored voice said on the other end once I finished dialling.

I repressed the urge to snarl. "This is Taylor Hebert here. I have Shadow Stalker in her civilian guise here. She attacked me with intent to kill. I'd like someone to pick her up, please."

After a few terse moments as I argued with the man, he finally informed me that Miss Militia would be around to investigate my 'claim' shortly. I put the phone down, muttering to myself about bureaucratic assholes, before I got down to the better part of the night.

Sophia's weapons.

Self-Defence was all fine and dandy, but in order to fight the gangs, I'd need a larger arsenal of weapons. Knives and crossbows were not high on my list, but any port in a storm. The emotions on them were…awful. Anger, hatred, contempt, arrogance…nothing but negative emotions. It took me a while to get past them to the memories on how she wielded the knife and shot the crossbow.

It shocked me to see that she had fired it at a boy wearing biker leathers and a skull-like mask and motorbike helmet not long before she put me in the locker. She had almost killed him.

The PRT and protectorate let this kind of person become a Ward?! What the hell?!

Moving on to Sophia herself, I trawled through her past, highlighting skills I could use. These included Parkour, maintenance of her weapons and, although not a skill, the location of her hidden stashes of weapons and ammo she had dotted around the city.

I had just finished when a knock on the front door came. Hurrying, I looked out of the peephole to see a woman with a stars and stripes bandana tied around her lower face. Miss Militia.

"Hello." She greeted me, "Are you the one who called about Shadow Stalker?"

"Sophia Hess, yes." I said blandly, informing her that I knew who she was. Letting her in, I led her to the living room, where Sophia was just coming around and starting to thrash in her bonds.

"Oh my." The Protectorate Cape said as she took in this sight, "I'd better call the PRT."

"Tried that. The guy on the other end was a douche." I said with a shrug.

"They'll listen to me. But first…" Miss Militia pulled out some odd-looking bracelets from her pocket and snapped each of them around one of Sophia's wrists. "There. That'll stop her from phasing into shadows."

While she got on the phone to the PRT, Dad arrived and I told him about what had happened. It took him fifteen minutes of cursing under his breath before he could calm down properly.

"Mr Hebert…you have the Protectorate and PRT's heartfelt apologies for this." Miss Militia said as troopers frogmarched Sophia Hess from my house, "I will promise you now that she will be forcibly equipped with far more resilient bracelets to prevent her from leaving the Correction Facility again."

"Just…keep her away from my daughter." Dad said, his voice still laden with undertones of anger.

"We will." Miss Militia promised him, "I must also ask you and your daughter to come into the PRT building tomorrow to sign a NDA, as Miss Hess revealed her identity to her and Miss Hebert here likely informed you of it. It's standard procedure after an incident such as this."

"So she gets thrown back where she belongs and my daughter has to cover her identity?" Dad growled. I winced here. That did suck.

"I agree that it is unfair, but if we don't get you covered by the Wards NDA, Chief Director Costa-Brown will get involved." Miss Militia winced, "She is…less that amicable when this sort of thing happens. If we get this sorted now, we might be able to swing you a few concessions as an apology. Protectorate Capes, especially Wards, are supposed to have a lot of scrutiny on them to prevent the sort of thing your daughter went through."

Dad looked as if her was about to snap at her again, so I placed my hand on his arm, drawing his attention.

"Dad…let's just get it over and done with." I said with a sigh, "I just want to put Sophia Hess behind me where she belongs. If keeping her Cape identity gets me that, I'll do it…so long as she never returns to Brockton Bay again."

"I can't promise that, but she will be sent to a west-coast correctional facility this time." Miss Militia told me, "A high-security one to boot. I think Director Piggot will insist on it."

"Good." Dad said with a sigh as he calmed down fully, "We'll come in tomorrow. Sorry, but my daughter and I could use some time to recover from our home being violated."

"Understandable." She nodded, "I'll collect the weaponry and be on my way."

She placed Sophia's knife into a bag, ditto for the crossbow and the bolt that had shattered the kitchen window, and then she asked for my baton. I gave it up reluctantly and was promised that it would be returned the next day.

Once Miss Militia left, I looked at the shattered window where Sophia had almost killed me with a shiver.

"I don't feel like cooking tonight." I said to my Dad, "Fancy ordering out for some pizza?"

He smiled back at me. "Sounds good, kiddo."

 **So, yeah. I thought to myself, what power is the least visible or useful in battle? I came up with psychometry. Those of you who have watched/read Zettai Karen Children and the Touch of Frost series by Jennifer Estep will know that it has a wide variety of applications that Taylor has yet to discover. I think it fits in with the mind-set of the Queen of Escalation, don't you think?**

 **Striker/Thinker: 8 (Has the ability to read information on any object or person that she comes into skin-to-skin contact with. Has the ability to read the emotional state of the target if human and can pick up traces of strong emotions remaining on objects. Is able to read the past of objects or people she touches. Can fast forward to the specific time she is looking for if she knows it. Can learn the skills of people she touches as long as she knows they possess that skill. The original holder of the skill retains the original skill. Can learn how to use objects that have been heavily used, although the skill level she learns is dependent upon the skill level of those who used the object before her. These skill acquisitions are permanent. Able to view the health of other humans with a touch. She does not know understand everything about a person's biology by touch but what she understands is transmitted to her. Additionally, she fully comprehends her own biology.)**

 **Trump: 6 (In combination with her Striker ability, Taylor can copy other powers from other Parahumans, although the criteria of those powers that are eligible for acquisition are stringent. In the example of Panacea's ability to read the biology of others, it was copied, but not her biokinesis ability because it was far too powerful in combination with everything it entailed. Additionally, the powers copied are almost always Striker-based powers that mesh well with her Thinker powers and they are all weakened somewhat.)**


	26. Sound of the Underground

Having powers is pretty cool. Most of the time. What _was_ irritating was the part where they seemed to be driving me up the wall when hearing people singing. Or speaking at all, now I come to think of it.

When I had come out of the locker, I had been overwhelmed by the sounds around me, to the point that I had blacked out. Now I was lying on my hospital bed three days later, recovering from a nasty case of blood poisoning and I was figuring out what my power was.

I could _see_ sounds as waves of colour. Most were just barely visible, semi-transparent and ignorable. I quickly figured out it was because they didn't have any emotions behind them, because when my Dad came in not long after I woke up, his voice emitted sound waves of a particularly light blue, almost white, which I figured out meant intense worry.

Most of the nurses and doctors let off soundwaves of a light pink colour when they talked to me, indicative of their care for those under their charge. When they talked to Dad, they were a slightly darker shade of pink, which I guessed meant sympathy.

My power meant that getting sleep was…hard. I could close my eyes alright, but as long as I could hear, I got a little map whenever I heard noises. So I had a form of echolocation as well, with quite some distance as well. This did not lend itself to getting much in the way of sleep.

Something I noticed was that when someone told a lie around me, I could see the sound wave flicker and distort in dissonance. This would be useful if I became a Cape. Being able to tell if someone's lying or not would make tracking down bases and the like easier.

First though, I'd have to get home.

 _A Week Later_

School sucks ass.

This was something I had come to know to be an absolute rule ever since my best friend since pre-K had stabbed me in the back. I hated going back, but until Dad could scrape together the funds for me to be home-schooled, I had to go to school, which meant Winslow.

My power wasn't very helpful in the rowdy corridors of the cesspool that the school was. Teenagers shaded the truth almost every time they opened their mouths, making most of the noise-colours they emitted dissonant and discordant. It was slightly sore to be surrounded by so many people and the sound they made, to the point I was developing a pretty bad headache as I slouched from English to Computer Studies. Mrs Knott was my favourite teacher at Winslow due to the fact she actually cracked down on any sort of bullying by The Trio's minions during class time. She had tried to talk to Principal Blackwell about my case, but had come back infuriated, saying she was being stonewalled for a reason she couldn't tell me.

Class was easy, as I had always been good at using computers, so when I finished the coursework assigned a good quarter of an hour ahead of schedule, I sent it off via the intranet to Mrs Knott and browsed PHO and a few other sites. I was in no danger of being seen doing this because I was in the corner and everyone sat well away from me, ostracising me unless classwork forced them to work with me.

Works for me this time.

It didn't take me long to figure out that I had a form of Sonokinesis, or sound manipulation. I hadn't had much chance to experiment with my powers with Dad being all protective and everything, so I typed up a small document with ideas gained from those other Capes who possessed some form of sound-based powers and mailed it to my private e-mail address, just about the only thing Emma hadn't known the password details about when she backstabbed me. I'd print it out at the library.

One thing I noted that I had was something called rhythm intuition, the ability to understand the rhythm of soundwaves. It was because of this that I automatically knew what sounds I was hearing and roughly what direction they were coming from.

The end of school came as a relief for me. I hadn't had much in the way of bullying today, just the usual comments about how thin I was and how ugly I was, yadda, yadda, yadda. Seriously, it was getting a bit boring to hear honestly.

Heading to the library, I quickly logged on to a PC, printed my e-mail out and left, heading home to cook dinner. I'd test things out tomorrow.

The next day, I got through school as painlessly as was possible, meaning enduring anything the Bitch Trio could throw at me. Emma threw jabs about how I'd been so pathetic after my Mom died, which made me angry.

"I'd like to see how you feel if it ever happened to you!" I snapped at her angrily.

Emma stepped back, shocked by my reaction. Sophia, however, smirked as she finally made me react to something.

"She wouldn't sit and weep like a pussy like you did though Hebert." The black girl almost purred with satisfaction.

"Well then she mustn't love her parents." I shrugged and turned to go.

"Take that back, you bitch!" Emma growled. She stamped forwards and grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around to glare in my face.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" I told her sweetly, "I find the idea of someone not crying when their parents die to be pathetic…if they loved them to begin with. In your case, your track record of dumping someone for something better doesn't exactly help your case."

Emma was enraged, but physical confrontations had never really been her style. She clenched her teeth and fists in her anger and hissed out, "You'll pay for that, Hebert!"

"That's about as likely as you three paying for everything you've done to me, Emma." I said sadly and left.

I went home from the scene and left a note telling Dad I was out for a walk, which was true. I did neglect to tell him I was going to the Boat Graveyard to practice my powers, but that was pretty much par for the course these days. Dad and I were somewhat estranged thanks to Dad all but going into a coma after Mum died.

The Boat Graveyard took up a nice chunk of the northern docks area and it was the perfect place to test out my powers to see if any were offensive or defensive. Strange noises and the like came from this area all the time, so I wasn't worried about being discovered. Just in case though, I wore a balaclava to hide my identity.

Running down my list, I found that singing like Canary did nothing that I could see, but I did find a way to mute an area. All I had to do was walk around a room (or cargo hold), talking as I did so with one hand on the wall and the whole room became soundproof.

Perfect for heavy sound testing.

I discovered that my primary method of offence was a sonic shriek of some kind. I could modulate it so it could vary between lightly pushing a crate along the ground to reducing self-same crate to splinters. I could build it up before releasing it, turning it from a sonic _shriek_ into a kind of sonic _cannon_ , powerful enough to dent solid steel after only _ten seconds_ of build-up.

As a direct result of finding out about these facts, I discovered I was immune to my own power; none of the shrieks I let out were harming my eardrums whatsoever.

I experimented with altering my voice, and found I could make myself sound like anyone. I flashed between Dad, Emma, Mr Gladly, Armsmaster and a couple of other people that I knew.

After getting stuck with trying to create things using sound, I got frustrated and jumped on the spot. When I didn't land, I saw a pair of Ω-shaped wings on my back. I zoomed around the cargo bay, giggling like a loon. I had always wanted to be an Alexandria-type Cape, mainly because she was the only female member of the Triumvirate, but also because flying was a cool extra power that that type of cape had commonly.

A bit of experimentation taught me that I could make the wings emit sounds or even music as I flew. I amused myself by flying around the cargo bay to the sound of Wagner's _Walkürenritt_ and the Earth Aleph soundtrack of _Superman_.

Returning to earth (or the deck), I discovered I could mute any sound that I made. The rustle of clothes, the sound of my hair, steps on the ground…all of it utterly muted. Useful.

After running through a few more ideas that didn't work, I started to make my way back home. It was dawning on me that I was a Parahuman now and that I had the chance to do some good in Brockton Bay; maybe push the gangs back in the Docks area across the bay, give Dad's Dockworker's Union some relief.

First things first, however; costume and name.

 _A Month Later_

Putting together a costume for being a hero is not easy, unless you happen to be rich.

Fortunately, I happened across a boarded up costume shop near the edge of the Boat Graveyard that I immediately annexed as my base. It was in the little demilitarised zone between the ABB and Empire 88 territories, so it should be safe from patrols and the like so long as I'm careful. Whoever had owned the shop had apparently left in a hurry, leaving internal doors wide open and money still in the cash register. The place was full of dust, so it had to have been abandoned for at least a few years. Checking the address out online revealed that it had belonged to a man who had mysteriously disappeared at the same time as an indie hero called Wolf Star had been killed by Lung. His family had left the Bay for parts unknown after that.

They had left behind all sorts of Halloween costumes and masks, so I was spoilt for choice. I decided that the first thing to do was to tidy the place up a bit, so I could walk around and not have a coughing fit from the dust getting disturbed.

The shop included a small apartment upstairs, which was also abandoned, and a basement apartment, which was in need of serious cleaning. The whole shebang took me _three weeks_ to clean, which I am religiously hoping will not happen again.

It was when I was cleaning the basement that I stumbled across what must have been Wolf Star's hidden base. Not entirely sensible to hide the entrance to your hideout in the basement of your own house, but maybe it was just an emergency escape hatch for his family or something? Whatever.

The base was two levels deep, with a couple of other entrances going out into the sewers and an abandoned building, obviously intended for stealthy exiting. Wolf Star had been a Tinker, but he's also had the power to control earth, a useful Shaker ability. Presumably he'd used the latter power to dig out this base, and then Tinkered his way about it until it was locked up tighter than a drum.

New plan; take over this place. Problem was, the power was out and I was no Tinker. I was walking around the place, looking for something that might be a possible power source when I spotted a large room with a big lever on one wall.

It had a hazard strip around it and a sign above it emblazoned with 'Main Power Switch' in big block capitals.

 _Suspicious._

Why would a Tinker leave a big lever like that lying around when they could use whatever device that their kind of weird techno skills that they had to turn it on and off. This just screamed obvious booby trap.

Making a mental not to see to that room, I ignored it and headed into another room that had all the vibes of a command centre of some sort. A big table in the centre, computer consoles all over the place, the works. One was elevated and I presumed that that meant it was the command console.

Trotting up to it, I scanned the buttons, of which one was lit. With none of the other buttons looking likely, I pressed it.

Immediately, a whirring groan came from somewhere and all the lights, inactive until now, flickered into life. The screens powered up and the logo of Wolf Star, a snarling wolf in mid-leap atop a yellow starburst, appeared on them.

" _System Online._ " A mellow baritone said from the speakers. " _Identify yourself intruder._ "

"How'd you know I wasn't your creator?" I asked curiously.

" _My creator's marriage partner shut me down in tears, so I can presume that something untoward happened to him._ " the voice –an AI?- replied.

"Wolf Star was murdered by Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, almost four years ago." I said carefully.

" _I…see._ " The voice said sadly, " _Now, please identify yourself or I will be forced to incapacitate you._ "

A turret lowered itself from a hole in the ceiling. It had an odd looking weapon on it and it was pointing at me!

"I am a recently Triggered Parahuman." I said carefully. I was very grateful I had looked up terminology for how Parahumans received their powers, "I want to be a hero, so I was looking for a place to use as a hideout and I found the abandoned shop upstairs…"

"… _which led to you discovering the entrance to this complex._ " The AI finished for me, " _Very well. For now, I will treat you as a guest hero. I am Quirinus, the AI in charge of this complex. What should I address you as?_ "

I smirked at that. "Call me Sound Bite."

 **So yes, she is a broad-spectrum sound-user, as well as having a more flexible and powerful version of Triumph's power, without the Brute rating. For all those interesting in the second chapters, I'll be starting on them once I finish the list I have of powers that I'm interested in writing for Taylor. Seven more to go…**

 **Mover: 3 (Able to create wings made of sound to fly at high speeds.)**

 **Blaster: 5 (Able to fire sonic shrieks from her mouth at varying intensities. Able to charge up the shrieks into a sonic cannon of considerable power. The sound thus emitted by either shriek or cannon can be modified to cause more damage to any inorganic material so long as Taylor knows what it is.)**

 **Shaker: 3 (Able to create an area where the sound if muffled. No sounds can be heard from without or within the barrier. Immune to any and all backlash from her own sound-based powers. When flying, can broadcast and music or noise she knows across a wide area via them. Able to broadcast her voice over a large area.)**

 **Thinker: 5 (Able to use a form of echolocation using sounds not of her creation. Able to modulate her voice's tone and pitch to sound like anyone. Able to see sound as a coloured wave, which also allows her to see the emotion behind what the person is saying. Can also tell when someone is lying via this power. Can induce headaches if in a large crowd of people lying. Instinctively knows the rhythm of soundwaves and can tell the origin of all sounds that she can hear, as well as roughly where they came from.)**

 **Stranger: 3 (Able to voluntarily muffle and neutralise any and all noises she makes.)**


	27. Enter the Bal Masque

_Warehouse Section, Undersiders Base_

"Will this do?" Lisa Wilbourn, otherwise known as the villainess Tattletale, asked her new teammate, Taylor Hebert. The girl, dressed in jeans and a sweater, was a bit plain looking, but the Thinker could tell that she had a good heart and had been screwed over rather badly by the authorities several times, fairly recently as well.

The two girls were standing in front of a large pile of old wood, metal, fabric, straw, sand and other items that Taylor had asked for. The girl could control dolls with her mind, a Master power, but when she had fought against Lung the previous week, the Dragon of Kyushu had ripped all but one of her thirty dolls apart and burned them to ashes before the Undersiders had intervened.

"This'll do nicely." Taylor said with a nod as she pushed her glasses up with one finger, "My last dolls weren't made of such good materials, which is why Lung tore through them so quickly."

Lisa eyed the sole remaining doll that Taylor had left. It was the size of an adult human, with a white mask on its head that was grinning sinisterly like a twisted version of the mask of comedy. The rest of the doll was made out of black fabric stuffed with what looked like cotton wool, although the ends of its arms bore a pair of shields and its feet had in-line skates. Covering it was an ankle-length cape.

"You didn't have much to work with when you made them, did you?" Lisa observed.

"I wasn't expecting to fight _Lung_ of all people when I went out last week." Taylor replied irritably, "This one only survived because it was my personal guard. It's a shame to have to retire it, but my current max is thirty human-sized dolls. Better than it was three months ago though; I could only control five."

"What about smaller ones?" the more experienced villainess asked curiously.

"Depends. If I'm controlling my maximum amount of human sized dolls, I can control about ten dolls the size of a Rottweiler or fifty the size of a Barbie doll." Taylor answered absently as she inspected the goods with a practiced eye, "If I'm not controlling human-sized dolls, I can control about fifty medium-sized dolls or about a hundred Barbie-sized dolls."

Lisa suddenly had a vision of the Wards getting swarmed by a bunch of Barbie dolls and started to snicker, sharing the joke with Taylor, who also chortled at the vision.

"Thing is, I _can_ control regular dolls, but they're a bit useless in a fight. Distractions at best." The bespectacled Cape confessed after she stopped laughing, "Making my own dolls is the best route, because…well, there's a good reason why Defender here survived where the others didn't."

"How? I didn't actually see it do anything." Lisa had just seen the doll carrying Taylor, in her black costume and silver face mask, away from Lung most of the fight once the Undersiders joined in.

"Watch."

Saying so, Taylor made her Defender doll stand up straight from the slouched position it had been in and bring up its arms, crossing them so the shield overlapped. She then picked up a small lump of iron and threw it at Defender, dodging out of the way at once.

As the iron lump reached Defender, a blue barrier flickered into life in front of the doll before the lump was rebounded back along its original course, slamming into a wall like a bullet.

"Holy shit! You're a Trump!" Lisa breathed, "You can give your dolls powers!"

"Yeah, I'm a bit like Dauntless like that." Taylor nodded, "Actually, clothing and equipment can be empowered like that as well, but not many. Say, ten separate pieces at a time. The majority of my power is to do with creating and controlling my dolls, with a little left over that lets me empower clothes and armour. Not sure about weapons. Again, it's better if I make them than use store-bought stuff."

"Yeah, but this is still a big deal Taylor." Lisa said seriously, "Usually, Trumps can do a specific thing to do with powers. They can be the Eidolon-type, bestowing/altering their own powers, the Othala-type, altering/bestowing powers onto others or the Dauntless-type, altering/bestowing powers onto inanimate objects. Can other people use the Trump-items you make?"

"Dunno; lets test it out." The other girl replied and pointed at the stack of fabric. A roll of purple fabric not dissimilar to the shade used in Lisa's Tattletale costume floated up and started to glow. Needles and thread rose up as a pattern formed in the fabric and broke free; gloves. As Taylor manipulated the items, the other girl kept silent.

' _She's like a souped-up version of Parian._ ' The blond thought, ' _Especially since Parian is restricted to fabric only and Taylor can use almost anything as a base for her creations._ '

Parian was a Rogue Cape who ran a clothing store. She had nothing to do with Hero/Villain fights, stating her neutrality in all things. Her power over cloth was not what one would call powerful, as any of the Villain Capes could tear her cloth golems to pieces, much as Lung had done to Taylor's dolls.

In fact…

"Why do you call them dolls rather than golems?" Lisa asked aloud, "Golem would surely fit them better than doll."

"Because if I do, my power stops working on them." Taylor stated, "I thought like you when I first got my powers. Called them golems and they all fell to the ground, useless. Once I called them dolls again, my power started working again. The concepts of 'doll', 'toy', 'marionette' and 'puppet' work on my creations; 'golem', 'avatar', 'idol' and 'effigy' do not. Oddly enough, the effect of my power changes depending on which concept I apply to it."

"What happens?"

"You've seen 'Doll', so there's no need to go into it." Taylor plucked the finished gloves out of the air and started inspecting them, "'Toy' means I can only control small creations, but I can control a lot of them. 'Marionette' reduces me to controlling four human-sized or medium-sized creations at a time, but the effects of my Trump ability are greatly enhanced. Finally, 'Puppet' reduces me to controlling one human-sized creation at a time, but my Trump powers bestowed on the single creation are significantly boosted. I muse 'Doll' the most because it's a reasonable median between my powersets."

"You can use two of the three Trump types…you are _so_ broken." Lisa said in disbelief.

"On the flipside, I'm about as vulnerable without my dolls as you are." Taylor pointed out reasonably, "Right, try these on for size."

The bond pulled the gloves on, raising her eyebrows at how well they fit her hands. Not too snug and not too loose. Perfect.

"Good." Taylor said after Lisa had said so, "Now give them back so I can Trump them. What do you want in them? Both have to have the same effect, I'm afraid."

"Can you give me a Brute rating?" Lisa asked hopefully.

"Hmm…doable…but you have to choose between durability and strength." The bespectacled girl replied after a moment of thought, "I can't do both on a single item."

"Durability." Lisa said immediately, "I'll take protection over offence any day of the week."

"Right you are then." Taylor focussed on the gloves, which started to glow blue for a moment. Once the glow faded away, the back of the hand area of each glove gained half a white face, one of a laughing man, one of a crying man.

Lisa took the gloves when offered, flexing them as they went on. There was no noticeable difference.

"What Brute rating did you give them?" she asked.

"Enough that a grown man could punch you and you'd not be hurt." Taylor replied, "Defender, punch her in the stomach."

The doll sprung forward at its creator's command and drove a fist into Lisa's stomach before she could do more than widen her eyes in shock. Strangely enough, she didn't feel any pain and she hadn't even moved to fold herself over the limb that had struck her.

"Wow…that was Brute 2 just for the resilience." The Thinker said as she stepped back from the doll, "Is it alright if I show these to the rest of the gang?"

"Sure, but I can only make…five more pieces of equipment." The doll master said as she turned her attention to the pile of materials, which rose up at her mind's command, "After I finish making more dolls."

"Of course." Lisa agreed, heading for the annex area where the rest of her team waited, "Just so I know, is there any limitation to the item empowerment?"

"Umm…I can empower them with Brute, Shaker, Mover, Thinker, Blaster, Striker and weak Master ratings easily enough." Taylor replied distractedly, "Never tried Tinker, Trump or Stranger before. Ditto for my dolls. Oh, and I need to charge them with my power once a month. That's just about everything."

' _I am glad she's on our side._ ' The villainess thought as she headed up the stairs, ' _Once she learns how to empower more items, she'll be scary; once she grows to be able to control more than fifty human sized dolls, she'll be fucking_ terrifying _!_ '

 _Later_

Whoa…" Brian LaBorne, AKA Grue, said involuntarily as he and the rest of the Undersiders came down from the annex at Taylor's request. Alec, AKA Regent, whistled in an impressed way and Rachel, AKA Bitch, snarled slightly.

Standing before them were thirty human-sized dolls lined up in three rows of ten, each slightly unique, but all wearing a white mask that Lisa had told the others was a mark that indicated that Taylor had used her Trump abilities on it.

Standing at the forefront of the squad of dolls, Taylor stood in her repaired costume, a black one-piece bodysuit with numerous laugh/smiling/sad/crying faces on it, a pair of silver gloves with white masks on the back of the hands, a silver mask shaped to look like a blindfolded Lady Justice, with a white hooded cape that Brian knew had a face similar to her mask on the back.

"The Bal Masqué is ready to dance." Masquerade said with a short bow.

"Holy shit." Alec said, "It's only been two hours since you started!"

Masquerade shrugged. "The only reason it took me three months to make thirty dolls before now was that I had to scrounge around for the sheer amount of materials. I perfected the process of making dolls the fifth time I did it. All I needed to learn was mass production of the basic bodies, which took half an hour of multitasking trial and error. The rest, attaching their individual arms and armour and endowing them with their powers, took up the rest of the time."

"So what can they all do?" Brian asked curiously as Lisa came down the stairs.

Five blurs zoomed past him and he turned to see them surrounding Lisa, Edward Scissorhands style hands pointed at her.

"Zip, Zoom, Zap, Blur and Whizzer are primarily speedster-type Movers, with slight Brute durability." The doll master said, "While over here, Atlas, Hercules, Heracles, Goliath and Samson are pure Brutes, built to smash the enemy apart."

The second series of dolls she pointed out had distinctly larger limbs than their siblings.

"OK. What about the rest?" Alec asked.

Ten of the dolls took flight. Five had glowing hands while the other five had glowing eyes.

"Erg, Joule, Volt, Watt and Therm here are flying Blasters, while Boxer, Smasher, Ripper, Pummel and Knockout are flying Strikers." Masquerade continued, gesturing at the flying dolls in order, "The last ten are unnamed as of yet. All of them are jack-of-all-trades, with a little Brute strength, a little Mover speed and a dollop of Master powers to control various substances. They are the ones I'm thinking of erasing the last set of powers from."

"Why?" Alec asked, "Seems a kick-ass set of powers to me."

"Except that Dolls don't have any will of their own, so unless I consciously exert my will to take control of them, their powers are useless." The silver-masked Cape said with a shrug, "I'll remodel two into Defender-type dolls and remove the Master powers from the rest."

The flying dolls landed as she spoke and the Movers zipped over to stand to one side as the rest did, bar two who slumped over onto their knees, their hands detaching from their arms and reforming as Masquerade's gloves glowed.

"Blaster ability?" Lisa mused aloud, "No…you're giving yourself a Master ability to shape matter as you see fit using those gloves."

"It is…draining to use though." Masquerade ground out as the hands flowed as shields made from metal were inserted into them, "I only use it if it's a small or medium large section that needs reforming."

"Because it's a second Master power and it's drawing from your reserves directly." Lisa nodded.

"…why do you need a team again?" Brian asked Masquerade honestly, "You have these guys that out-muscle us fairly easily."

Masquerade finished her modification to the new Defender-type dolls and removed her mask, pulling her glasses out of a pocket in her cape and placing them back on her face.

"Because no matter how good they are, they are only dolls." Taylor said as she turned to look at Brian directly, "They are completely reliant on me to move or do anything. If I go down, they go down. With a team to support me, it isn't nearly as much of a worry. Lung showed me that."

Privately, Brian was relieved that Taylor wanted to remain on the team. With her help, the Undersiders could accomplish a lot more than they had been able to up until this point. The way that Lisa was so…reluctant to talk about their boss made him nervous. Lisa wasn't easily unnerved by anything, so the fact that their unknown-to-him boss made her nervous wasn't comforting.

Sure, he didn't mind being a villain. It certainly paid better than being a Ward! What he wasn't eager about was the fact that the boss knew his identity and could pressure him regarding his sister's situation if he wanted. Rachel could be pressured by threatening the dogs she rescued, while Alec…he was in it for the money, pure and simple. The boss didn't have to blackmail him.

"So anyway," Lisa said cheerfully, "It's a good thing that you've got your private army up and running; the boss just sent us some orders."

"What's the job?" Brian asked.

"He wants us to rob Brockton Bay Central bank in two days' time." Lisa replied.

Brian had a bad feeling about this.

 **As you might be able to tell, some of this chapter is inspired by becuzitswrong's fic 'A Propensity for Wrath' without the emotional component. I have no confidence in being able to write a fic like this up to his level, but if I finish one of my other stories, I might pick this up, who knows?**

 **Master: 7 (Able to manipulate and control anything that she can apply the terms 'Doll', 'Toy', 'Marionette' or 'Puppet' to. The number she can control depends entirely on the size of the dolls. Human-sized dolls have a limit of thirty; medium-sized dolls have a limit of fifty; regular dolls have a limit of a hundred. Her range is four city blocks. She can manipulate them with a great deal of control and finesse, even at maximum capacity.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Able to know the location of all of her creations, even if not actively controlling them. She can see through any eyes that are on the dolls, as well as know any damage dealt to the dolls.)**

 **Shaker: 5 (Able to manipulate any substance aside from flesh to create her dolls or equipment. In the case of hard substances, she can liquefy them and shape them as she pleases. Once the dolls form is set, however, this power no longer works on them and they must be repaired either by hand or with another Master/Shaker power.)**

 **Trump: 5 (Able to bestow powers onto her completed creations, manifesting as an all but indestructible white mask on their heads (if they have any) or elsewhere on their bodies. There is a set limit to the level of bestowment that Taylor can do. Blaster: 4, Striker: 4, Brute: 5 (either strength or durability if a piece of equipment), Mover: 4, Shaker: 5, Master: 3, Stranger: 3, Tinker: 2, Thinker: 5, Trump: 1. She can also alter her own power to exemplify different concepts of her power, switching from 'Doll' to either 'Puppet', 'Marionette' or 'Toy'.)**


	28. Always Loyal

Sleeping for the first time after I was pulled out of the locker was weird. Instead of normal dreams or even nightmares, I was standing in the middle of a white world that gradually filled up with lines leading to and from me. The lines led to floating portraits of people I knew; my Dad, my godparents Kurt and Lacy, Emma, Greg Veder and a few of my other classmates.

Next to the portraits were what looked like thermometers, except that they were all at different levels; Dad, Kurt and Lacy were all about halfway up the top section, while most of my classmates were down in the bottom half where I'd consider the minus temperatures to be.

The two exceptions to that were Emma and Greg; Greg was slightly higher than the middle point, while Emma's gauge was at the very bottom of the lower half of the gauge.

I could feel warmth coming from Dad, Kurt and Lacy's portraits, nothing from Greg's and icy cold coming from the rest. Before I could do anything else, I woke up, in my hospital bed, confused as hell.

What had those lines meant? What did the gauges mean? What did the feelings I got from the portraits mean?

I lay back and puzzled over the situation. Presuming that the odd dream meant that I had Parahuman powers, then what the heck kind of weird ass powers did I have?

Thinking about it logically, the lines were the connections between me and the people that the portraits represented. I knew this as a fact rather than a supposition. The warm feelings I had for three of the portraits were made even more obvious by the fact that the lines between me and the portraits had been glowing golden yellow.

"Miss Herbert?" A nurse scurried in looking at me appraisingly.

"Hebert." I croaked back, my mouth as dry as a desert.

Noticing that, the nurse went and got me a cup of water, which I drank gratefully.

"Hebert…ah. Millicent spelt it wrong." The nurse complained absently as she scribbled the correction onto her chart, "So then, how are you feeling this morning Miss Hebert?"

"I've got a sore head and an empty stomach." I replied with a shrug.

"You would be." The woman said absently, "Feeding you intravenously doesn't do much for hunger. I'll have your breakfast sent up once I've finished giving you a check over."

"Thanks." I said gratefully.

After being poked, prodded and drained of some blood, I was at last allowed to eat, although the hospital food was as bad as rumours made it out to be; bland and tasteless.

My hunger assuaged, I returned to my pondering. The lines between me and my classmates, Greg to one side, had all been a slimy black and looked malicious. They also felt as if they were draining me somehow. That ignored the gauges completely. I honestly didn't know what to make of it all. I'd have to experiment when I got home…whenever that would be.

 _Two Weeks Later_

I stared between the bulkhead and my fist in disbelief. I had just punched it and dented it! And I didn't feel any pain!

I had been practicing since the first night that I had dreamed of the white space and discovered that by closing my eyes, I could go there while awake. The fact that the black lines to my classmates were draining me somehow had concerned me, so I had tried pushing one, connected to the portrait of a girl on the Track Team, away from me. It had resisted me, but I had managed it.

The lines had broken and the portrait had vanished, along with some of the weight that I had felt from the drain. Intrigued by this, I had gone around and pushed away most of my classmates except for Greg and Emma, finding that the drain lessened with each banished portrait. Including my dad and godparents, there had been over a dozen portraits, so the drain hadn't been inconsiderable.

When the only draining portrait left had been Emma's, I had hesitated for a moment. She had been my first and best friend for years before all this and I was loath to remove her from my…mindscape (for lack of a better term). Still, she had betrayed me utterly, stabbing me in the back and had helped put me in The Locker, so she had to go.

Pushing Emma's portrait away had taken a lot of effort, far more than the rest had taken. Still, once she was gone from my mindscape, it felt like a yoke had been lifted from my shoulders. The portraits that were left, aside from Greg's, had blazed with golden light and a strange feeling had come over me as the golden light of the connecting lines had blazed also.

I was being _actively empowered_ by the connections I had with my Dad and godparents. Greg's was an infrequent thin trickle compared to the steady streams I was getting from them, but still.

I had been standing in the hold of a ship in the Boat Graveyard when I did this, and when I opened my eyes, keeping my connections active, I had seen that I was surrounded in a golden glow. So, to test my power and see what it did, I first tapped then punched the nearby bulkhead.

The empowerment was giving me a Brute rating, making me stronger and the aura seemed to be acting as a forcefield of some kind, protecting me and allowing me to feel no pain.

After I calmed down, I sat down on the deck to think. What did my Dad, Kurt, Lacy and Greg Veder have in common with each other? What could be the source of this power? It was obvious that it had something to do with the connection I shared with them. In the case of everyone who disliked me, their connections had drained my power down to human levels and left me feeling tired and lethargic.

It was…loyalty? Could it be that I gained strength from people I had connections with that were loyal to me and lost strength when I had connections with people who weren't loyal to me? Was that it? Examining it from all sides, it did make sense. Dad, Kurt and Lacy loved me and were loyal to me, while Greg was somewhat indifferent to me, only talking to me because I was just about the only girl in Winslow to not tell him to take a hike when he started on his stupid conspiracy theories.

I decided that that was enough experimenting for one night and headed back home to sleep. Strangely enough, I returned to my dreamscape to see more portraits rising up out of the white floor, most of them connecting black lines to me and draining my power all over again. A few, the nurses who had looked after me in hospital, were similar to Greg, neutral.

Scowling, I counted off the portraits. A baker's dozen, thirteen of them, including the four that had been there before I'd fallen asleep. Gritting my teeth, I started to push away the ones that were draining off my power as fast as I could do so. Unfortunately, as soon as I got rid of one, another popped up in its place. All of them were ones that drained or hobbled my power.

I ended up going through almost every member of Winslow's student body, and a few graduated students, before they finally stopped coming, ending with the last two of the Bitch Trio, Madison Clements and Sophia Hess.

Madison's portrait was actually fairly neutral, the gauge only being slightly below the halfway line, while Sophia's portrait was _radiating_ shadows and darkness, the gauge being all the way at the very bottom, further than Emma even. She _really_ fucking hated me. Why? What the _hell_ had I done to deserve being hated with that kind of passion?!

Pushing Sophia's portrait away was exhausting, far more so than Emma's had been, but I managed it in the end, although I didn't have the energy to push away Madison's. I decided to wait until the next night to do that.

A thought occurred to me when I woke up; Sophia's was the only one who had some sort of effect outside of the connecting lines. Why? What made her different from everyone else at Winslow?

The answer hit me like a tonne of bricks…she was a Parahuman. That _had_ to be the only major difference between her and Emma. The difference on how far down the two gauges indicators were was negligible to the point of irrelevancy, so it had to be something that I didn't know about her. I was betting that Parahumans registered differently to my…whatever the hell you called my weird dreamscape.

Another thought hit me…what would happen if a Parahuman was loyal to me? With mundane humans, I seemed to get a minor increase in my strength and a defensive aura-shield than increased in strength coinciding with both the number of loyal people I was connected to and how high their gauges were. What bonus could a Parahuman grant me?

 _Two Months Later_

I hate my luck.

I was fighting against _Lung_ of all people! **Lung!**

OK, it was entirely my decision; I couldn't let him kill _kids_ , but seriously!

Fortunately, I was Brute enough to go a few rounds with him. I had reconnected with a few old friends I hadn't spoken to in a while at the Dockworker's Association, so my strength and durability was up fairly high. The aura shield was keeping me from getting burned or anything by his pyrokinesis, but damn was he punching hard!

Lung, in the meanwhile, was getting bigger and stronger, and his metallic scales were getting thick enough over his body that I couldn't count on attacking any of the same spots twice thanks to his adaptive regeneration.

When he roared, I was fed up. Neither of us held the upper hand for the moment, but as Lung was an eight-foot high dragon, the next thing was that he would grow taller and heavier. Best to knock him for six for a while before legging it.

Leaping into the air, I landed an axe-drop kick on Lung's head while he was in mid-roar, which shut him up and stunned him for a minute. As soon as I landed, I knelt, spun around and kicked his feet out from under him before leaping up again and putting all my strength into a powerful punch that sent Lung flying. I blinked as three large _things_ tackled the dragon man. He tried to slash at them, but wound up carving a slice from his own jaw somehow.

Not one to let an opportunity pass, regardless of how bizarrely it had come to pass, I ran forward and circled around until Lung's head was in striking range and unleashed a powerful series of punches that finally knocked the bastard out. I had been leaving his head alone for the most part, waiting for just this sort of chance.

As Lung shrunk, the dog-things were called back by their controller, a girl wearing a leather jacket and a cheap plastic store-bought mask. I recognised her from descriptions of PHO. Rachel Lindt, otherwise known as either Hellhound or Bitch.

Next to her was a boy dressed in motorcycle leathers and helmet, with a skull-like mask underneath it. On her other side was an androgynous figure wearing a puffy shirt of some kind and a venetian-style mask. He carried a sceptre of some kind lazily in one hand.

The last figure on the left side of the motorcycle guy was a girl wearing a black and purple costume with an eye of Ra symbol on the middle of her chest. She was a blonde with good looks in the girl-next-door kind of way. She was only covered by a domino mask on her face.

My own costume was a bit more cheaply made, consisting of heavily altered military camo pants and a similar jacket, bought from a second-hand store, with a balaclava, a bandana tied around my lower face like Miss Militia and tinted skiing goggles over my eyes.

"Thanks for softening Lung up for us." The biker boy said in an echoing voice, "He was coming after us for robbing his casino. We saw off Oni Lee and were coming to see what we could do about Lung, but you had him well in hand."

"N…Not…really…" I managed as I dropped to my knees, "Imna sleep now…"

Blackness covered me as I collapsed.

 _Lisa's Perspective_

"We have to take her!" I said urgently, "Armsmaster is coming up and he'll arrest her!"

The way the PRT and Protectorate was with unaffiliated Capes disgusted me and I wasn't about ready to let this girl get railroaded by Halbeard for loitering or whatever.

 _Brian: antsy, undecided, wants to do the right thing, but wants to protect the team first._

 _Alec: Doesn't care, would go along with grabbing the girl away from Armsmaster just to irritate/anger the heroes._

 _Rachel: Worried about the girl, worried she might overthrow her place in the Undersiders' 'Pack', yet appreciates someone who can show her strength against a strong opponent like Lung._

I strode forward determinedly and picked the girl up. She wasn't as heavy as she looked.

"We're taking her. End of discussion." I said flatly.

"Fuck it." Grue said with a shake of his head, "Fine, but if this turns Spitfire on us, you lose half your pay."

"Fine." I said, knowing it wouldn't. I had only had a few minutes of using my power on the girl, but I knew she was a good person, having leapt into the fight against Lung to stop him from killing kids, from killing us.

As to her powers…I had a vague idea, but that wasn't important right now. I heaved her on top of Judas after me, while Bitch mounted Angelica and Grue and Regent hopped onto Brutus. As we retreated, we heard the sound of a motorbike in the distance. Armsmaster.

By the time he arrived on the scene, we'd be long gone.

 _Later_

 _Undersiders HQ_

"How is she?" Grue asked in an undertone. I had laid the girl down on the couch and used my power to check for injures. No broken bones, no burns, no injuries at all except from a few bruises. All-in-all, a far better outcome than most people got after going ten rounds with Lung.

"She's exhausted." I answered in the same tone, "At a guess, I'd wager that this is the first time she's really pushed her power to its limits. This is the result."

"Recent Trigger?" Regent asked absently as he made headshot on _Call of Duty_.

"Could be. Then again, she could be a Cape who's never had to push herself as hard as she did against Lung." I replied, although I knew she was a recent Trigger. She still had the tell-tale signs that I could pick up of someone recovering from a Trigger event.

The girl groaned as she regained consciousness, shifting groggily as she sat up.

"Wha…? Where?" she moaned.

"Easy there, Camo Girl." I said softly, "You've been out for a good hour and a half after you KO'd Lung."

"I had the weirdest dream about mutant dog-rhino things…" she muttered as she sat up.

"No dream. Those were Bitch's dogs." I replied, hiding a smirk. That was a new description for Judas, Angelica and Brutus.

"Ow my head…where am I?" the girl asked.

"Welcome to the secret headquarters of the Undersiders." I replied. As expected, she tensed up at that before wincing and massaging her temples through her balaclava.

"Great. I've been captured by villains and my power's down for the count. Just perfect." She grumbled.

"You aren't captured." Grue told her, "I don't know how much you remember from before you konked out, but you helped take down Lung, on our behalf. That earns you a solid from us."

"Lung…was after you? Jeez, I thought he was going to kill kids, actual kids! That's why I jumped in. Ow, my head…if you aren't going to keep me prisoner, do you have any aspirin or something?"

"You have a Thinker headache." I informed her with a grin, "Stop trying to use your power and it'll go away after about ten minutes."

"I'm not _trying_ to use my power; it's _always_ active and I have no idea how to deactivate it." The girl retorted.

That made me wince. Yeah, my own Thinker power was like that; always on and only able to be deactivated or muffled for a short period of time. With this girl's own power, I could tell that she couldn't even do that much.

"What is your power anyway?" I had to ask, "I can see it gives you a Brute rating for your strength and a forcefield around your body to protect it, but those are because of the power, not your power in and of itself."

The girl looked between me and Grue warily before shrugging.

 _Resigned to the fact that she was in an unusual situation. Curious why villains are being honourable. Unaware of the Unwritten Rules. Assigning us temporary trust based on Grue's words and my friendliness. Misses having a female friend she can trust._

"Basically put, my power gives me strength based on loyalty." The girl said uncomfortably, "The more people who have some form of loyalty to me and I form a connection to, the stronger my Brute power becomes. It isn't necessarily subordinate to superior loyalty either; it can be father to daughter, friend to friend or even acquaintance to acquaintance. Any kind of loyalty activates my power. On the other hand, dislike of me drains my power. I have to actively cut off any negative connections, otherwise I'm weakened. I just cut off Lung's connection while I was asleep, actually. Now I know that Parahumans register differently to my power."

"What do you mean?" Grue asked, but my mind was racing as my power gave me clues. _Trigger caused after extensive bullying. Caused by former best friend. Caused by insignificant groupie. Caused by star track team athlete._

"The person I hold mainly responsible for the incident where I got my powers is a Parahuman." The girl said angrily, "She showed up in my mindscape…look, in my mind, I can see connections between me and portraits of people. Gold connections if they're loyal, black connections if they're negative. The one I blame the most for this had her portrait surrounded in shadows and darkness."

 _Parahuman with power over shadows or darkness in Brockton Bay limited to Grue and Shadow Stalker. Trigger caused by female. Culprit is Shadow Stalker._

"Don't say her name." I told her firmly, "The Unwritten Rules are clear on this. OK, basically, one of the primary rules is to not unmask other Capes. If you suspect the identity of a Cape, keep it to yourself. To make it easier for you, there are only two people in Brockton Bay who can control shadows and darkness. Grue here is one of them. The other one is Shadow Stalker."

"She…that…that sadist is a fucking _Ward_?!" the girl snarled angrily.

 _Feels betrayed by her school for covering up the activities of a Ward. Is intelligent, understanding how a lot of incidents that occurred over the time she has been bullied…a year and a half…that Shadow Stalker's power could have been used for._

"Yeah, we aren't exactly fans of her either." Regent commented as he looked over at her from his paused game, "She almost killed Grue there a couple of months back with a live arrow to the gut."

"Crossbow quarrel." I corrected absently.

"Fuck off. He almost bled to death on the last couch we had and we had to get a new one." The renaissance faire reject continued unabated, "I loved that couch."

"Regent, it was white." Grue said patiently, "It was almost asking to get made dirty."

"Still liked it."

"Wait…Grue?" the girl peered up at him in confusion, "As in the _Zork_ monster?"

Grue threw up his arms in exasperation. "Does _everyone_ get that aside from me?"

I snickered when I read the confusion in the girl's body language. "I came up with his name," I explained, "and Grue here never played any games or the like growing up, so he had no clue what it was."

That made her chuckle.

"Curious here…what happens if a Parahuman is loyal to you?" I asked then. The girl shrugged.

"Not got a clue. Parahumans don't tend to advertise themselves unless they're New Wave and both of the ones I've encountered before now have disliked me, to put it mildly."

"Yeah. Psycho Stalker and Rage Dragon." Regent snorted, "Try Tattletale there. She's more up your street."

I blinked at that. Yes, I was friendly, but to the point of experimenting to see what happened if little miss loyalty here got friendly with me?

"Actually, first things first; what's your Cape name?" I asked, trying to delay things.

"Best I could come up with was Fidelis." The girl shrugged, "As in Semper Fidelis."

"Loyal." I translated for a confused Bitch, who had remained silent, "OK then. Well you saved us the bother of having to really fight Lung, which makes you a friend in my book."

"Thanks." Fidelis nodded, "Remind me not to do that again."

That earned her a chuckle from Grue and Regent. Then, a golden glow surrounded her and abruptly, my Thinker power stopped working on Fidelis.

"What the…?!" I said, wide eyed. I'd never come against anything that could block my Thinker power before. Stall it, yes. Confuse it for a moment, yes. But point-blank no-sell it? Never.

"Two seconds." The Cape said and went silent for a moment before coming back out, "Right, so my friendship with Tattletale here earns me a Thinker power, a fairly weak one actually. It blocks Thinkers from scanning me for about ten minutes once I activate it, before shutting down for two hours. That's what I'm seeing here anyway."

 _Fidelis. Loyalty-based power acquisition. Loyalty from mundane humans grants her a Brute rating. Loyalty from Parahumans earns her weak powers of the same type as the Parahuman. Power is never the same as the original Parahuman's own due to differences in thinking and experience. As friendship and loyalty with the Parahuman increases, so too does the power she receives. Never reaches strength of original power._

"Thankfully, it only stops _direct_ scanning of you by Thinkers." I huffed, "It looks like you get weak powers from Parahumans who have some sort of loyalty to you. They can grow, but never reach the full potential of the original power."

"So wait…she's basically a more reliable Eidolon, is what you're saying here?" Grue asked intently.

"Pretty much." I confirmed, "Fidelis here, as far as I can tell, needs people to be loyal to her in order to have any sort of power whatsoever, and losing people's loyalty loses her power or even drains her, as she stated. As long as she has a person's loyalty though, she's able to use her powers as she pleases, although she has to play the power lottery with the powers she gets; she had as little control over what she gets as Eidolon has with his own power. Once she has them though, she keeps them. The only problem other than those I've already stated is that once again, they are not strong powers and they never reach the same strength as the original power."

Regent whistled. "Damn. So if she buddies up with Grue and me, she gets a Shaker/Stranger power and a master power from us, though she has no control over what that power is? Sign her up; I wanna see what she gets."

I walked over and smacked him on the head lightly. "She wants to be a hero, Regent." I reminded him.

"Maybe not so much after the PRT and Protectorate screwed things up with fucking Shadow Stalker." Fidelis replied, sounding rebellious. "What's the pay like?"

"Two grand a month." I replied, "Plus income from our jobs. How's your power by the way? The Brute one?"

Fidelis stood up and clenched her hands. A duller, but more consistent golden glow covered her body.

"Back in action." She replied.

"Bitch, are you going to do your usual?" I asked.

Rachel blinked back at me before huffing. "No. She kicked Lung's ass. She can join. I'm higher in the pack anyway."

Once again, confusion came from Fidelis. I got that by using my normal ability to read people, as I still couldn't read her with my Thinker power.

"Normally Bitch picks a fight with new recruits to try and drive them away." I explain to her, "The fact that you kicked Lung's ass seems to have neutralised the need for that though."

"Yay me." Fidelis deadpanned, "Is the offer to join up genuine?"

"It is." Grue confirmed, "We've needed a heavy hitter for a while. A Tinker too, but we'll take a heavy hitter if we can get one. You in?"

The camo-costumed cape thought for a moment before shrugging. "What the hell. I'm in."

 **As Tattletale did an admirable job of explaining Taylor's power in this chapter, I will forgo my usual explanation and merely leave it as her being rate as a Trump/Thinker 8. Anyone with further questions, review!**


	29. Shadow of a Witch

Most people, when considering powers, would think that the ability to control your hair would suck majorly. In that, you would be right ninety percent of the time. Hair isn't all that strong; it's easily cut, melts easily in even the flame of a candle and has very little in the way of reach.

In my case, however, it is a weapon, a powerful weapon. Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.

My name is Taylor Hebert, and I was shoved into a locker full of what had been used feminine products, but had mutated into the most disgusting pile of filth you could imagine, covered in bugs and other disgusting stuff. I was locked in for an entire day, which put me into a coma for a couple of weeks.

I had woken up to see Panacea holding my hand, with her sister Glory Girl standing nearby. Apparently my Dad had begged New Wave for help, both in Panacea's case and in Brandish's case, in her capacity as a lawyer.

"- _six_ different kinds of viruses!" Panacea had ranted at her sister as I woke up, "She's lucky to be alive!"

"Calm it Ames, she's awake." Glory Girl had hushed her sister before filling me in. The school had done its best to pull a fast one by offering to pay for my medical expenses in exchange for Dad not pressing charges, but Brandish had gone into what Glory Girl had described as 'kick-ass crusader mode' and gone for the metaphorical jugular, using my bully journal and Greg Veder's, of all people's, testimony to beat down any resistance.

As a result, Sophia Hess had vanished, at the same time as Shadow Stalker had been transferred elsewhere abruptly. Coincidence? I think not. Emma had been sent to juvy, as had Madison. The rest of those who made up my tormentors (the rest of the student body) had been given a severe warning and community service, not to mention grounded until the end of high school.

Alan Barnes, Emma's high-priced divorce lawyer of a father, had come in, looking broken after that and apologised to me for what his daughter had done. He had been let go (a polite way of being fired, apparently) by the law firm he had been with. The same one Brandish, Carol Dallon, worked for, ironically enough.

Panacea had healed me up, although she prescribed some large meals to make up for the biomass she had used while healing me, so I was released from the hospital that day. The word of the world's premier healer carried a lot of wait with doctors, obviously.

One of the many concessions Brandish had clubbed out of Winslow was a transfer to Arcadia. I was given a week off to settle into recovering from the mental aftereffects of being locked into a locker for a day. Time I had really needed, as just working up a sweat had made me feel the need to take a shower.

I discovered my power when I sat down to brush my hair before my first day of school at Arcadia. I examined myself in the mirror and decided to braid my hair when my hair moved itself and formed a neat braid!

I stared at it gormlessly for a moment before automatically tying it off with a scrunchie. I decided that I could freak out about this after school, so I got ready and left.

Arcadia, the school where it was an open secret that the Protectorate Wards attended, was very different to Winslow. No gang colours were allowed on school grounds for one thing. No graffiti on the walls, no broken cameras, no apathetic teachers…if anything, the only downside was being dragged around by a very enthusiastic Victoria Dallon (Glory Girl) and having Amy Dallon (Panacea) throw looks that were a mixture of commiseration and jealousy at me all day.

When I got home, I undid my hair and looked in the mirror, willing it to straighten. Hey presto, it did. Not a kink to be seen. Of course, I was a bit irritated. I had wanted to be an Alexandria-type Cape ever since I knew what the other meaning of Cape was and I got the power to have good hair?

Petulantly, I willed my hair to grow…and it did! I was frozen as it started to pool around my feet before coming to my senses and ordering it to return to its normal length, which it did, thank heavens, otherwise I'd have had to give myself a haircut!

Testing out my power over the next few days, I discovered that I could change the colour of my hair, making it white as snow or as black as night or any other colour I wanted without even trying. Cutting off some hair while it was extended and coloured, I was relieved to see that it remained the changed colour.

I also discovered that I could use the cut hair as thrown needles, making them long and as hard as steel. In the interest of preserving my identity, I experimented and discovered I could make my cut hair vanish into dust. I could also apply the hard as steel nature to my actual hair, making it highly useful as a weapon.

Practising every day with my hair got me to the point where I could use my hair to pick up an egg without cracking it, as well as punch a large dent in the steel hull of a rusted hulk of a ship in the Boat Graveyard. Several trips to the library had granted me several comics and ideas about what else to do with my hair.

Right now, for example, I was in my basement, trying to make my hair form a dragon's head at the end of it. I was getting about halfway through it before it fell apart and I was getting frustrated as hell.

" _ **Avavago!**_ " I snapped for some reason, my anger making up a word to express myself. That's when my hair did something bizarre. It extended all on its own, swirling into a maelstrom and then slamming into the floor, vanishing through it without piercing the concrete.

When it emerged from the ground, it was in the shape of a human-sized dragon head. To be clear here, it was not a head from a human-sized dragon; the _entire head_ was the height of the average human and as wide as two average males standing lengthways side-by-side. It was made up entirely of my hair, so its skin was brown. Dark blue eyes glared at me and its mouth opened, revealing sharpened teeth.

' _Name…give me a name…_ ' a voice whispered in my head. I looked around with wide eyes and only the dragon head and I were in the basement.

"G-Gomorrah!" I said, blurting out the most random thing to come to mind.

Nodding, the dragon head lowered itself back into the ground, my hair returning to normal as it retracted from the ground. The only difference was that now I could turn my hair into a swarm of mini-dragon heads at will, with teeth strong enough to bite through solid steel if I wanted them to.

This left me to wander upstairs and make dinner as I pondered things. It was less like I had created the dragon head…Gomorrah…and more like I had pulled something from a pre-existing pattern. As I stirred the sauce I was making, I reached down inside my mind for any flicker of information about Gomorrah.

' _Gomorrah, the Devourer of the Divine. A territorial demon, it is often found alone. It identifies all it sees as its prey other than its summoner and devours them whole._ '

This was all I found out about it. From this scrap of information that my power provided, I determined that I couldn't create another hair construct while Gomorrah was out, that it needed to have its targets identified otherwise it would attack the closest being and that its little title meant that it was specially designed to eliminate powerful foes. By eating them, although I think that I can throttle it and make them spit the targets up.

I had somehow linked the word 'Avavago' to the creation and concept of Gomorrah, which meant that I had a tell for people to read when they fought me. Not good.

It was the next day that I discovered I had a power in addition to my hair control power. I tripped and fell down the stairs and waved my arms wildly in circles beforehand. This created a circle that I fell through and floated down the stairs. When I landed with barely a bump on my rear end at the bottom, I was stunned. Looking down at my body, I noticed that I was…transparent. See through, in other words, like glass.

I tried to use the banister as leverage to haul myself up and fell flat on my ass again as my hand passed through the wood as if it wasn't even there. I stared at it for a moment, my jaw hanging somewhere near my navel, metaphorically speaking.

OK, so I had a Stranger/Breaker power of some sort. When I walked outside, nobody could see me, aside from a cat, which legged it as soon as I looked at it. I figured out that by moving both hands in a circle, I could create a 'portal' of sorts that let me leave and enter my Breaker/Stranger state as I pleased.

A couple of experiments showed that I could open small portals at will to send my hair creations to attack through the 'boundary world' I had access to. I decided it wasn't really a Breaker/Stranger power, but access to a boundary world of sorts that granted its inhabitants Breaker/Stranger powers.

In fact, my hair probably used this world on its way to forming Gomorrah. I set that to once side for the moment and focussed on the two important questions that all Parahumans were best with at one time.

What should my costume be and what should my Cape name be?

My costume, once I worked on it for a while, turned out to be easier than I thought. I could transform my hair into a costume that was rather impressive; pure black and somewhat skin-tight, with a bit…OK, a _lot_ of extra padding on my non-existent boobs and flat butt, as well as my hips. I even made boots and gloves out of it, hardening the boots until they could be used as improvised weapons in a pinch.

That still left my mask. I wasn't about to show anyone my face. Screw being public friendly. Again, I made it out of solidified hair, only making the mask as white as ivory. It looked like a regal, imperious woman smirking at whoever looked at it. Even I got pissed off at how damn superior it looked.

I also decided to colour my hair black, the same shade of black as my costume in fact, when I was in my Cape persona. Much easier than hair dye. I also decided to style it differently, putting it up in a ponytail for ease of use regarding my hair creations.

As for my Cape name, I decided that since I looked like a walking shadow when in costume, I'd have something like that as my Cape name. I wanted to avoid anything to do with Sophia/Shadow Stalker though, so I was left thinking.

Fortunately, my mother had been an English professor and had passed several habits down to me, reading being one of them. The result of being well read was a broad vocabulary so I used that to my advantage.

"Look out Brockton Bay," I whispered as I tugged my costume on and tied my hair up, "The Umbra Witch is here."

I placed my mask on by face and vanished into the shadows of the Bay.

 **This was the result of people begging for a Bayonetta chapter. It isn't much, more like a taster, but it's still something.**

 **Master: 6 (Has Comakinesis; the power to control hair. She can only control her own head of hair, but she is able to perform several feats with it, including changing its colour, length, texture, base strength, sharpness and other aspects of Mastery. There is no real limit to how much hair she can control, but it usually has to be within her line of sight or general area to be adroitly controlled.)**

 **Mover: 4 (Is able to shape her hair into wings, granting flight. Is also able to use hair as tentacles for increased jumping capability.)**

 **Trump: 6 (Is able to grant her larger hair constructs power based on a concept. Gomorrah is based on the concept of ferocity, granting it Brute strength and durability, as well as the negative effect of being a berserker.)**

 **Stranger/Breaker: 5 (Is able to enter into a pocket dimension only she can allow people into. While within this dimension, she is all but invulnerable, unable to be struck by non-reality warping powers or physical effects. She can walk through anything not protected by an energy field and can attack from within this dimension. She is also invisible unless she wishes people to see her.)**

 **Brute: 3 (When wielding a tremendous amount of hair, her base strength and durability is magnified to superhuman levels.)**


	30. Get it on Paper

A lot of things happen when you get powers. Some good, some bad. Take what happened to me for example. On the plus side, my 'Trigger Event', as they call the events that people gain Parahuman powers, was so blindingly obvious that the PRT had had to swoop in, cover everything up with a forest's worth of NDA forms and strict legal documentation, and boot Sophia, AKA Shadow Stalker, to the curb and juvy so fast she didn't see it coming.

Most of that was a good thing.

What I was going through right now though was a pain. The PRT was trying to conscript me and I wasn't having any of it.

"What part of 'no' do you not understand?" I demanded angrily. I was sitting on one side of a conference table, my dad sat next to me, while Director Piggot, Miss Militia and Armsmaster sat on the other side, with Glen something-or-other, a member of the PRT's PR department. They really must have thought I'd fold like a pile of cards.

"I fail to see why you insist on refusing to become a Ward." Piggot said stiffly. She was a whale of a woman, one cookie away from a pulmonary embolism.

"Because the person who was primarily responsible for making me Trigger was one of your own Wards!" I answered heatedly, "Not to mention someone who should have been watched around the clock because she was a probie!"

"She isn't on the team anymore. I fail to see why you are making so much of a fuss." Armsmaster stated in a monotone.

"I can see several reasons." My Dad said coolly. He had been pissed when he found out who Sophia was. "She cannot trust that the other Wards are not like Miss Hess, she cannot trust the PRT because it was an _agent_ of the PRT who helped conceal the fact that Miss Hess tortured her for over a year and a half, and she cannot trust the Protectorate because you are their leader and have shown no compassion or sorrow other than the fact that Miss Hess was caught and embarrassed the PRT in general and you and Director Piggot in particular."

Piggot's face darkened in anger. "I despise Capes who abuse their powers, Mr Hebert. Had I been aware of Miss Hess' activities-!"

"And yet you weren't." I shot back, "You classed her as being on probation, yet took no special methods or measures to survey her despite that. I can't trust you to have my back, so there's no way I am going to work for you."

One of Piggot's eyebrows twitched as she became angrier at me. "I see. What will you do then when the Empire or Merchants come knocking to recruit you then?"

Jeez, her voice is so cold that it's practically artic!

"Fight." I replied simply, "But Kaiser doesn't break the Unwritten Rules that I've been told about. He almost killed the last one in the Bay to do that, if memory serves. The Merchants…well, unless you leak my details to them, I doubt they'd bring their heads out of their drugged-up hazes to do anything. So, bluntly put, unless the PRT breaks the Unwritten rules themselves, I'm secure from that sort of thing."

"I also plan on stepping up our home security." Dad added.

"Might I ask what your plans are then?" Miss Militia, silent until now, asked.

I softened my voice as I told her, "The Dockworkers Union has been suffering from the gangs' non-Parahuman activities for years. I'll keep to the Docks as an independent Hero-slash-Rogue. Hopefully having a dedicated Hero will have an effect on the crime rates in the area rather than the distracted afterthoughts of an overworked and understaffed PRT and Protectorate."

Again, Director Piggot twitched, with Armsmaster joining in. It wasn't any secret that, for whatever reason, the Protectorate ENE was being shafted in the Cape department. The Empire outnumbered the Protectorate by a handy margin, and the leader of the ABB was Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu. There should be at least another half-a-dozen Capes in the Protectorate's roster, yet there wasn't.

"I see." The female Cape said seriously, "I would advise that, at the very least, you become a PRT Affiliated Cape. It will relieve you of most of the restrictions that vigilante heroes are bound by."

I was reluctant to have anything to do with the PRT or Protectorate, but this was one of the original Wards telling me this. Plus, Piggot was glaring angrily at Miss Militia. Ah-hah, so the Director hadn't wanted me to be told that, eh?

"I'll take it under consideration." I replied diplomatically.

The meeting ended after that and my Dad and I left the PRT building, where the meeting had taken place. Dad was quiet until we got into his old car.

"OK Taylor." He said after a moment, "What do you seriously plan on doing?"

"Dad, I have to find a way to use my powers." I told him frankly, "They don't like being left fallow for long. Research has shown that. I'm going to do as I said in there; become an independent Hero/Rogue."

"The hero part I can see where you're coming from, but the rogue part?" Dad looked doubtful.

I smiled and twitched my finger, making a piece of paper float out of the back of the car and fold itself into a paper crane. "How interested would the Dockworker's Union be in someone who can turn any inorganic object into paper? Such as, oh I don't know…ship hulks?"

A smile grew on Dad's face. "I think I can pitch it to them fairly easily. You'll need a costume and name though."

 _The Next Week_

 _Dockworker's Union Offices_

I stood in front of the leadership of the Dockworker's Union in my costume, feeling a bit silly. I knew all these people, yet I had to act as if I didn't. Not for the first time, I had to wonder about the absurdity of the Unwritten Rules.

My costume's mask was made of Papier-mâché, which made it relatively hard anyway, but it was made as strong as steel when I altered the paper within with my power to make it like that, as well as making it fireproof and waterproof. I had painted it white and red. Who knew that kindergarten-level stuff could be so useful? The rest of my costume was a white jumpsuit covered by a dress made from A4 sheets of paper, more than you'd think was there just by looking at it.

"OK people, let's calm it down." Dad –Danny, he told me to call him in this outfit- said, making most of the room quieten down. Dad was well respected by those in the Union because of his unflagging efforts to improve their lot.

"Today, we have a petition form Paper Master here, a Rogue Cape, to work for the Dockworkers Union on a case-by-case basis." He continued.

"Paper Master?" Kurt, my godfather said doubtfully, "What can she do?"

Dad gestured at me and I cleared my throat. "I have the ability to transform inorganic objects into paper, as well as the ability to manipulate paper. I could turn those hulks in the Boat Graveyard into a mountain of paper and move it all away. The same could apply to rubble or broken machinery in buildings."

This earned me some muttering from the leadership.

"Could we see a demonstration?" Came a request for Brian Marshall, a work crew leader.

"Paper Master?" Dad said questioningly.

"Certainly. There's an old desk outside the room that looks as if it is ready to fall apart. If someone could bring it in?" I said politely, glad my mask hid my smile. Dad had had that desk put there deliberately so I could demonstrate my powers.

Two men lugged the monstrosity of a desk into the room. It was the old-fashioned kind that was made of solid oak and would have been worth a fair bit, had it not been for the unfortunate graffiti carved all across the top of it, plus the broken leg.

Pressing my hand to its surface, I invoked the power that had turned half of Winslow into paper and lo and behold, the desk exploded outwards, transforming into at least a hundred sheets of A4 paper that I had fold themselves into paper cranes and fly around the room.

"And this will work on steel? And on ships the size of the ones in the Graveyard?" Dad asked intently.

"It worked on brick and mortar; I see no reason why it wouldn't work on the ship hulls." I answered, "I have not tested it, admittedly, but it has worked on steel pipes and the like, so the only thing in question is size."

After a moment of whispering, the consensus was that my power would need to be tested on a ship before any contract was signed. So I was led out to a car and taken to the Ship Graveyard. To be precise next to a ship that had been sunk while moored at the quay.

Placing my hands on it, I invoked my power once more. The ship glowed blue for a moment before it started to dissolve into paper from the top of the coning tower all the way down to the hull. As the paper fluttered in the air, I drew it down to the concrete ground next to me and stacked it up in piles next to me.

"So? Do I pass?" I asked Dad, who was shaking his head in disbelief at the steadily dissolving ship.

"I think it's safe to say that you do." He said dryly, "You'll save us a ton of money on salvaging these ships, as well as clearing out factories and other buildings. We could even have you demolish derelict buildings."

I was about to reply, when a loud sneering voice called from behind us, "What the fuck are you fudge-packing cunt dribblers doing here?"

I turned and saw Skidmark, the leader of the Merchants, surrounded by at least thirty of his gang members, drugged up to the eyeballs as usual. There was, thankfully, no sign of Squealer or Mush with him, but these odds were bad enough. The Dockworkers were only lightly armed and I could see at least three merchants armed with assault rifles.

"Skids, look!" a druggie said, pointing at me, "A Cape!"

Skidmark sneered at me. "New Trigger? Has ta be. Come here and I'll give ya some stuff that'll make you feel _real_ good."

I made my way to the front of the group of Dockworkers before crossing my arms. "On the whole, I think I'd rather not."

"Your choice, cum whore!" the disgusting Cape sneered before beckoning at his gang, "Fuck them up!"

"Oh no you don't!" I snarled. I raised one hand and the stack of paper moved at my command, merging and folding into a long sinuous Chinese-style dragon that roared at the Merchants.

"Fuck-biscuits!" one shrieked before firing with his rifle. The bullets peppered the dragon until the gun's magazine ran dry. I just clicked my fingers and the many holes caused by the bullets piercing through the paper sealed themselves shut, as good as new.

"Kill the cape not the construct, you dick-guzzler!" Skidmark howled.

Before the man could reload, I made the dragon as hard as steel then had it charge at him and bite his weapon in half. It spat out the part it had torn from the weapon and roared again.

"Fuck you!" Skidmark roared and activated his power. Lines of red and blue appeared between him and the dragon. I frowned, trying to remember what his power was from my trawling of PHO. Skidmark could create areas of attraction and repulsion, and even layer them up to increase their strength, as he was currently doing.

I grinned underneath my mask as I recalled one of the restrictions on his power when he did this though.

With a gesture, some of the paper on my dress that I had shrunk down detached itself and grew until I bound and folded them together into the shape of a large tiger. I sent my new construct around the back of Skidmark, making sure to make the paper tiger as hard as steel.

It barrelled into Skidmark's back, forcing the man through his own repulsion field, which sent him flying into the coils of my paper dragon, which I collapsed around him, turning him into a mummy.

Turning to look at the Merchants, I placed my hands on my hips. "Well? Either fight and lose or run like a little bitch. Your choice."

About half of the group of drug addicts turned and fled, screaming obscenities at me, while the rest geared up to fight me. Between my paper tiger and the paper projectiles that I used (paper windmills and swords), the remainder were defeated and captured rather quickly.

Dad called in the PRT, which had Armsmaster arriving inside of ten minutes on what most people in the bay called the 'Armscycle' but he just called a motorbike.

"You defeated Skidmark." The Tinker Cape said. It sounded like a statement, but I could hear a question in there.

I laid my hands on my purring tiger as I replied. "Yeah. Between your paper tiger and mine, I think my one is more effective."

That started him grinding his teeth.

 **So yes, I am aware that someone is writing a story similar to this one, Papergeist, but this is not related to Konan of Akatsuki. Think more Read or Die's Yomiko Readman than her.**

 **On a different note, two of my stories, Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion and Zero no Tsukaima: Saito the Onmyōji, now have TV Tropes pages! This is something I am very happy about, so be sure to check them out and many thinks to the person who set them up. If you discover pages about any of my other stories, PM me!**

 **Shaker: 5 (Possesses Papyrokinesis, the ability to control paper and card. She is able to control the size, shape, density, hardness and other areas of the paper under her control. She can remotely fold them into origami figures and has an instinctive ability to do so. The range of her ability stretches for about two miles (3.219 kilometres). She can also turn a small quantity of her paper into explosives, the ratio being 1 paper for every thousand pieces of paper she possesses.)**

 **Striker: 4 (Has the ability Paperization, the power to turn things into paper. This only works on inorganic items, but there seems to be no limit as to size as she turned half of Winslow High School into paper when she Triggered. She can freely control the size, shape and colour of the paper she creates, but the default is white A4 paper.)**

 **Mover: 3 (If she has enough paper, Taylor can fashion wings to fly with or surf on the paper she has access to.)**


	31. Born in the Light

_Roof, Winslow High School_

 _ **Destination.**_

 _ **Agreed.**_

 _ **Alignment.**_

 _ **Agreed.**_

 _ **Light.**_

 _ **Agreed. Location?**_

 _ **Agreed. Levitation?**_

 _ **Agreed. Offence?**_

 _ **Agreed.**_

 _ **Intersection!**_

As I appeared in a flash of light on the roof, thumping down with a squawk of pain as I landed on my tailbone, I had to wonder what the hell had just happened to me. One minute, I was banging at my locker door, desperately trying to get out of it, the next; I was here on the roof.

That bitch Sophia had taped a piece of paper over the grills, cutting off what little light there had been coming through them, as well as the air. I'd been in the locker for about an hour or so and no one had come to my rescue.

Bastards.

OK, rage moment over. Time to figure out what the heck just happened here. I smelled the locker again and looked down at my lower legs, covered in the filth of the locker.

OK, figure out what happened to me later. For the moment, I needed to shower.

 _The Next Day, After School_

 _Hebert Residence_

I was glaring at the ceiling as I sprawled on my bed. As usual, the Bitch Trio had gotten off scot free, with no one coming forward to point fingers at them for what they had done to me. Conversely, however, the School Administration was getting a rocket from the BBPD, Board of Education and the Public Health Service for the contents of The Locker. Apparently used feminine products in that quantity and having been left over winter break were considered to be toxic waste.

Principle Blackwell was being highly pressured to discover the identity of the person responsible for the waste being put in my locker. And _still_ she was doing everything she could to shield the bitches! She stopped them from talking to me and told me that I was off for the week because of my 'traumatic experience' and that I wasn't to talk to anyone regarding an ongoing investigation!

Both my Dad and I were furious with the school, but there wasn't much we could do about it except add to my 'bully diary' and look for the right time to expose the Bitch Trio's actions to the public.

I didn't mind the week free for the Trio. Quite the opposite; now I had the chance to test out my powers to see exactly what I could do with them. Now that I was calmer and not on the edge of a hysteric fit, I knew now that I was a teleporter, so my classification was Mover. I had cranked up my ancient computer and equally old dial-up and scoured Pho for some way of assessing a Mover (Teleporter).

The general trend was that a Teleporter's power rating was assigned based on five pieces of criteria; Range of an individuals' capability to jump, whether or not they required line of sight to jump somewhere, whether they could jump with others, total weight that could be jumped and total number of individuals that could be jumped at any one time.

For frame of reference, Strider was widely acknowledged as the best teleporter on the planet. He was famous for being able to teleport a large group of people from LA to anywhere within 3,000 miles in a single 'stride jump' as he called it. There were teleporters who could outrange him, but they could only teleport themselves or maybe one or two others at once, which would reduce the range of their teleportation jump.

Some were limited by the Manton Limit and couldn't affect organics with their powers. There was a teleporter in Japan, Shunshin, who could only teleport herself and non-organic objects weighing up to 130 .7 kilograms up until last year, when she went through something referred to as a 'Second Trigger', whatever that was. Now the limit she had been under was raised to at least a couple of tonnes, she could teleport things inside of other things and she could now teleport up to five people along with herself.

In Brockton Bay itself, the only teleporter was a villain, Oni Lee of the ABB. He was a teleporter/duplicator that left clones behind after he teleported, allowing him to pull of suicide bombing attacks without harming himself. As far as anyone knew, he couldn't remotely teleport anything or anyone, nor could he teleport other people.

As I had teleported myself to the roof, I was tentatively labelling myself as a Mover 3. I could teleport somewhere that I couldn't see without losing my clothes (although I wouldn't have minded losing the trousers, shoes and socks; Dad had burned them as soon as I told him what they had been in) or damaging anything around me.

Now I had to find how to trigger my teleportation willingly, as well as if I could teleport things, both by touch and from a distance. Moving to the living room and closing the curtains, I focussed on my room, imagining myself appearing there and suddenly, in a flash of white light, there I was, standing in my room.

I silently fist-pumped in victory before heading back down to the living room. Next, I tried to teleport the TV remote to my hand. Again, it happened in the space of time it took for me to blink. Useful.

Next, I tried to see what happened when I teleported something in motion. I found an old tennis ball that someone had thrown into our back garden and used that. I threw it into the air and imagined it teleporting to my hand. One flash of white light later, and it was in my hand. It didn't drop or thump into my hand, it simple appeared there, its inertia completely robbed and neutralised.

Well. That's also useful.

 _A Week Later_

 _The Dollhouse_

Parian, the owner and operator of the Dollhouse Clothing and Costume store looked me up and down critically before eying the sketches in her hand that I'd drawn of what my costume should look like. I was dressed in utterly forgettable clothes and a dime-store mask of a Power Ranger.

"Hmm…not bad." The cloth user said with a hint of an accent I couldn't identify, "It's actually very good for an amateur attempt. It needs changing slightly, but I can do this. Question is, I am sorry to say, how are you going to pay me? You said you wanted three of them to start with?"

I had been ready for this. "I can act as your delivery girl within the city." I answered firmly, "A set number of deliveries per costume would be agreeable, wouldn't you say?"

Parian cocked her head to one side inquisitively. She had to do that because she wore a china-doll mask over her entire face, meaning no one could read her facial expression. "Yes, that does sound like a valuable service for me. Might I ask how many you were thinking of to start with?"

"Um…I honestly don't know." I was forced to admit, "I have no idea what kind of materials you were thinking of using for the costumes or how much they are worth from a monetary standpoint. How does seven deliveries per costume sound?"

"Eight." Parian countered. I considered it and nodded.

"Deal." I extended my hand and we shook on it. "Can I start once one of the costumes is ready?"

"That sounds fair." The dressmaker agreed, "I certainly don't want you delivering on my behalf wearing clothes like that. No offence."

"None taken." I assured her, "I'm just…not fond of showing off my body. Has to do with the run-up to my Trigger."

Parian nodded. "That's fair enough. So then, speaking of your Trigger, what's your Mover power? You never said."

I teleported around the room before returning to my original position. I had to laugh at the startled body language that the dressmaker was showing. "Teleporting. My range is unknown for the moment. The farthest I've tried to go is about a mile outside the city limits, but I didn't feel any strain at all when I did it, so my actual limits are undetermined."

"Wow. That was bright." Parian said with a shake of her head, "A light teleporter? Haven't seen one of them before."

"I know." I acknowledged, "Still, it's what I've got. Here's a number you can contact me with. If anyone other than me answers, hang up. I'm keeping my Cape life separate from my civilian life."

"That…isn't always wise." Parian pointed out hesitantly, "What if something happens to you?"

"If I tell my family, they'll make me join the Wards." I stated flatly, "I do not want to do that. I've had more than enough teen drama for one lifetime."

Dad _would_ probably try and make me join the Wards, fearing for my safety, not wanting to lose me after what happened to Mom, etc, etc. I'm not disputing that his heart would be in the right place, but dealing with the Bitch Trio is enough of a pain in the ass without adding Parahumans teenagers to the mix.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Parian shrugged, "I'll let you know when your first costume is ready, though it oughtn't take too long. Expect it in about three to four days. Now let me measure you."

 _Four Days Later_

I pulled the last gauntlet and stepped out of the changing room to see what Parian thought. The dressmaker had been as good as her word, calling me after school with the good news. The number I gave her was for a burner phone that I had thrown out after hanging up from the call.

"What do you think?" I asked as I placed my hands on my hips. The costume was a golden shimmering yellow with white highlighting lines around my waist and in rings down my arms and legs. My gloves and boots were a stronger gold colour than the rest of my costume and I had a white belt around my waist for zip-ties, a phone and other useful things.

My mask was that of an imperious-looking woman, entirely golden of course, attached to a helmet that covered my entire head. Parian had tried to talk me out of it, saying that the PRT didn't like people that had full-face masks. I told her the PRT could kiss my golden ass for all that I cared for their opinion.

I don't know how she did it, but the mask was made out of some sort of one-way glass like substance. She'd told me that it was about as strong as two inches of bulletproof glass. She had a friend in Toybox, the Rogue Tinker organisation, who had a specialty in making silicates that had provided it to her free of charge as a favour to her, as well as a bolt of Tinker-made cloth called steelthistle weave, which was stronger than Kevlar, as well as being resistant to bludgeoning attacks thanks to something special in the fabric. Almost all of my costume was made out of it.

"Wow…that's a lot of gold." The dressmaker said with a nod, "It works though. Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "Call me Hyperion."

 **This was hard to do. Taylor still hasn't learned everything she can do, which will be the subject of chapter 2 of this ficlet once I get around to writing it. My SAO story Swordsaint now has a TV Tropes page, so check it out!**

 **Mover: 7 (Taylor's primary power is light-based teleportation. She can teleport almost anywhere as long as there is the faintest sliver of any kind of light, artificial or natural, to use as a medium, which is why she was able to teleport out of the locker despite the dearth of light. Her maximum range is roughly 2000 miles in a single jump, by herself. The teleportation is nigh instantaneous and she can form illusory light-clones as a distraction. They have no substance, but look and act in a similar fashion to her. She is able to teleport a group of twenty people at a time up to 500 miles. The maximum weight of any object(s) she is transporting cannot exceed 2.5 tonnes. Anything she teleports has any momentum or inertia neutralised upon being enveloped by her power. She does not require touch to teleport things other than herself, but the landings can be more precise and less uncomfortable for the people in question if there is some form of contact with her. Is also able to fly.)**

 **Blaster: 4 (A minor ability, Taylor can fire beams of pure light at her enemies with varying intensities. Her clones can fire similar beams, but they have no physical impact, so they're just a pretty lightshow.)**


	32. In the Shadows

Taylor leapt across the rooftops with a grin on her face, although it couldn't be seen due to the faceless black mask she wore over it. It was matched by the black bodysuit, gloves and boots that she wore.

Night-time Brockton Bay was a bit creepy, but for all that it also felt more than slightly liberating, at least in Taylor's opinion. Since she had gained her Parahuman powers two months ago, she had come out to practice them at night and had become quite used to the darkness. It did help that one of her lesser powers was night-vision. She could see at night as well as or better than during the day.

Her power, aside from night-vision and a slight Brute rating for increased strength and durability, was mainly shadow manipulation, of sorts. She couldn't control just any shadow that she wanted; she had to touch the person or object whose shadow she wanted to manipulate first. She could always manipulate her own shadow, which she used to create her costume.

Sure, she could use it to create a golem to fight for her; that was what the majority of her power was, after all, but then the question of what she would wear as her costume would come up. Taylor couldn't move more than a mile or so away from the object that the shadow was cast from, which limited her with regards to what she could do, along with the requirement that she had to have touched the object in question at some point in the past before she could manipulate its shadow.

Simple solution; go out every night and touch everything she could lay her hands on, just in case she might need to fight in that area. She'd already covered Winslow, the Docks, the Boat Graveyard, the Medhall building, Arcadia's outer wall, most of the hospitals, as well as most houses in the area of the Bay that she lived in. Her target tonight was the area claimed by the Merchants.

The Merchants were considered, by all the other gangs, to be pathetic. They were drug peddlers and addicts, united only for the sake of self-preservation and the force of will of their leader, Skidmark. He, along with Squealer and Mush, were the main reason why no-one had rolled up the gang of stoners in less than a week. Rumours on PHO said that they had two new members as well. A Case-53, one of the so-called 'monster capes, called Trainwreck and a female called Whirlywig, who was a telekinetic of some description.

Out of all the gangs, Taylor held the most contempt for the Merchants. The Empire 88 and ABB were each bad in their own way, but the Merchants were a cancer eating at the city, had been for years. The PRT and Protectorate , badly outnumbered and out-muscled by the combined might of the three big gangs, couldn't do anything about the Merchants without the rest of the gangs taking advantage. Plus, the two linked teams were focussed on Parahuman activity, so rarely did anything about drug activities unless they stumbled across them on patrol.

Taylor, or Shadowdancer as she called herself now, would take up the slack and deal with them in the Protectorate's stead. Once she had the city covered by her web of shadows, she could fight freely wherever she might find herself in Brockton Bay.

Shadowdancer landed atop the roof of a building and tapped it with her hand, which made it glow darkly in her vision, as all objects and people affected by her power did. On people or animals, it surrounded them like an aura, as well as filling their shadow like a reservoir, which was what allowed her to use them.

Activity down the street caught her attention and she watched as a figure sheathed in blazing light was hurtled from a building. The only person it could be was Purity, a member of the Empire 88 and the second most powerful Blasters in America. A colossal figure stomped out after her, made of trash. Mush.

Purity righted herself in mid-air and sent two blinding blasts of light into Mush's trash-golem body, piercing through it with no other visible effect. Mush responded by continuing his charge and lashing out with a long arm of rubbish that Purity flew higher to dodge.

The shadow-using Cape was torn here. This was a villain fight, pure and simple. She had no intention of drawing attention to herself before she was ready to strike at the Merchants, which would happen if she interfered here.

On the other hand, there had been rumours that Purity had broken away from the Empire 88 and struck out as a lone Hero. The rumours were merely that; rumours. Shadowdancer didn't believe that someone who had been with the Empire for as long as Purity had would really have turned over a new leaf; if nothing else, she was still likely a racist.

The shadow-user winced as Purity was clipped by another swipe from Mush and was sent careening into the side of a building. She sagged as she realised that she really couldn't just stand to one side as someone was in trouble. Damn her moral compass!

"Emerge from the shadows and fight, Colossus of Shadows!" she whispered, exerting her will over the shadow she had just claimed sovereignty over.

The shadow of the building she had just claimed blackened, warped and bulged up into a shapeless mass that caught the attention of both Mush and Purity. In moments, the mass formed the shape of a Greek Hoplite and started marching towards the looming form of Mush.

Moving closer whilst sticking to the shadows, Shadowdancer heard Mush shout, "Who the fuck're you?! You wanna mess with the Merchants too?!"

Smirking beneath her mask, the shadow user made the hoplite, whose image she had taken from an old history book her mother had owned, make the 'bring it' gesture before dropping into a combat stance.

Mush was the heavy hitter of the Archer's Street Merchants, being the only one who had a Brute-like power once he got himself tooled up with a bulky golem body like he was just now. That did not mean he was smart. With a roar, the Merchant Cape charged forwards the shadow construct, arms of trash lashing out at it.

Smoothly, the shadow construct deftly dodged the detritus and kicked the trash constructs legs out from under it, making it slam to the ground face first, which mustn't have been too pleasant for Mush, sticking out as he was at the trash golem's chest-area.

As expected though, the more experienced Cape was too wily to get KO'd like that. The golem staggered to its feet, with Mush emerging from the chest looking battered but relatively unharmed otherwise. Before he could move any further, Purity lashed out with her light beams again and cut off the golem's legs, sending it down again.

Shadowdancer saw Mush look between the silent shadow colossus and the menacing hovering figure of Purity and decide that the odds were not on his side. The golem knuckled its way away before regenerating its legs and fleeing from the scene.

The shadow-user immediately dissolved the shadow construct, returning it to its natural form and retreating back to the building. She could tell that Purity, despite the blinding nimbus of light around her that acted as her costume, was looking around, trying to see who was controlling the now-obvious golem.

Slipping away stealthily, Shadowdancer cursed her inability to stand aside when other people were in trouble. Now Mush and Purity knew that a shadow user was about town and it wouldn't be long before their respective groups knew about her as well, then the whole damn city after them thanks to damn PHO. That meant that the PRT and Protectorate would know about her and try to find her to give her a recruitment pitch, which she had no intentions of allowing.

' _OK. From here on out, if you see a member of the Protectorate or the Wards while in costume, either ignore them or get the heck out of dodge._ ' Shadowdancer thought as she headed back to her home. She hated cutting her nightly patrols short, but this was bad news.

 _With Purity_

Kayden Anders née Russel, otherwise known as Purity, gave up on trying finding the shadow user that had stepped in to save her. To the best of her knowledge, there were only two Capes in Brockton Bay. The first was Shadow Stalker, the Ward and former Vigilante, while the other was Grue, leader of the Undersiders. Both were black, which disturbed her.

She had fallen in with Kaiser and his Aryan master-race garbage as a freshly-Triggered teen and had spent the better part of her adult life believing it. Now that she was away from Max Anders, her husband and the villain Kaiser, she was a solo hero, yet she still had a hard time bucking the idea that anyone not white wasn't worth knowing. It certainly didn't help that part of her deal with Kaiser was that she couldn't hit Empire 88 territories or men.

Returning to the matter at hand, she knew that neither of the previously mentioned Capes could do what she had seen here tonight. Shadow Stalker could turn into a mostly insubstantial shadowy Breaker form, while Grue could create darkness that could _interfere_ with said Breaker form. Therefore, this had to be either a new Cape in town or a fresh Trigger.

Quite why this new Cape had interfered in the battle between her and Mush was beyond her, but Purity was glad they had. She had one weakness as a Blaster and that was that it was very, very had for her to throttle her blasts of kinetic light. She would have had to risk seriously hurting Mush in order to put him down. Not that she cared about Mush, but the Protectorate and PRT would use it as an excuse to rescind the tentative truce she had with them and reactivate her arrest warrants.

Deciding that enough was enough for one night; she turned and sped off to her 'base', a fancy term for a room she dropped into in order to change into her civilian persona. She owed that newbie a favour for helping her and, even if they were black or Asian, she would repay that debt.

 **So, just something I thought of. This power set is similar to, yet different from, Taylor's in the story Equinox on Spacebattles. You'll see how different below.**

 **Striker: 2 (Able to imbue the shadow of any object, animal or human with her shadow power, which is critical for her to be able to control any shadow other than her own. The size of the target is irrelevant.)**

 **Shaker: 6 (Able to control the shadows imbued with her shadow power. Able to manipulate her own shadow freely. Able to form a costume granting her a Brute 1 resilience rating using her shadow. Able to form other shadows into anything she pleases and move them as she pleases, but they must remain within a square mile of the object the shadow was cast from.)**

 **Brute: 2 (Stronger and more resilient than she looks)**

 **Trump: 4 (Able to bestow powers on her shadow creations, from super strength to speed to Blaster abilities. They only last 30 minutes before Taylor must recharge them.)**

 **Thinker: 2 (Possesses night vision. Is able to see the shadow aura that her Striker ability infuses within people and objects.)**


	33. The Path of the Free (Wo)Man

"What the hell."

This phrase, spoken by Emily Piggot, was both a question and a statement wrapped up in one package. Armsmaster, seated opposite her, shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"The missive is as it is written, Director." He said gruffly, "All precogs and other Thinkers that deal in long term planning and foresight have been unable to direct any of their attention towards Brocton bay or a kilometre of the city limits without suffering severe migraines beyond even regular Thinker headaches."

"How…a fresh Trigger. Terrific." Piggot growled as she let the piece of paper in her hand drop to her desk surface with distaste, "Chief Director Costa-Brown has ordered me to find and talk to the Cape in question, see if I can convince him or her to deactivate whatever 'anti-Thinker field' that they have active."

"What if they are unwilling or unable to do so?" the blue-armoured Cape asked curiously.

"In either case, they will be studied by Tinkers and Thinkers that are unaffected by the field to devise a way to deactivate the field," the obese woman replied, "After that they will either be sent to a specially constructed solitary confinement cell or 'cordially invited' to join the Protectorate or Wards, whichever is more likely."

"Director, with respect, that hasn't worked well so far in regards to Shadow Stalker…"

"I could care less how well she interacts with her teammates," Piggot said curtly, "As long as she is toeing the line and abiding by the rules we set her, she's working. Parahumans that cause trouble need to be kept under supervision, which is especially true of a vigilante that went too far and even more so when it comes to someone able to cause all the long-term Thinkers of the Protectorate to suffer a collective migraine large enough to put most of them out of commission for a week."

 _Cauldron Base_

Contessa was accustomed to not being able to see certain individuals in the Path to Victory; Zion/Scion, Eidolon and the Endbringers being the only members of a very exclusive list of beings that she couldn't see in the Path.

Up until Brockton Bay and its inhabitants, plus anyone who passed within a kilometre of the city limits, dropped off the map, so to speak, that had been the case. Now she, and any other foresight or precognitive-oriented Parahuman, was functionally _blind_ in the city that was supposed to be the testing grounds for the possibility of Parahuman Feudalism. Every attempt she made to see the Path to do with any inhabitant of the city resulted in a mind-curdling migraine of such pain that she had to be sedated the first time it happened.

"Any progress, Contessa?" Doctor Mother asked.

"Had there been any, I would have informed you." The Italian woman snapped, quite unlike her usual smug and in-control self.

The other woman merely sighed. "It's alright. I didn't expect there to be any progress. This is most concerning. Calvert has reported that his Parachronal Cognition isn't working any better than your Path to Victory, while his underling Tattletale's Photographic Deduction is completely unaffected. We must find the Parahuman responsible for this and remove them, otherwise who knows what might happen."

Just then, the Number Man, formerly known as Harbinger of the Slaughterhouse Nine, walked in, looking tense. His suit was rumpled and his hair an untidy mess, most unlike him.

"Has Rebecca not found that Parahuman yet?" he asked tersely, wincing as another headache stabbed at his cranium, "I've been trying to crunch number to do with our assets in the Bay, but I'm having more luck with a _calculator_ than with my powers."

"She has made it clear to Piggot that finding the Parahuman who has done this is her number one priority." Doctor Mother stated, "However, her lack of resources is biting us in the rear at this particular time. I've had Legend send some extra Wards and a couple of Capes as reinforcements for the Protectorate as a start."

"I sincerely hope that whoever it is behind this is caught post-haste." Number Man said shortly and walked off rubbing one temple tiredly.

"Is there no lessening of the field, as far as you can tell?" Doctor Mother asked Contessa once the other Parahuman was out of the room.

"It weakens incrementally at night, although only a particularly powerful Thinker would notice it through all the pain of the migraine." The fedora-wearing woman replied, "It seems that some degree of conscious -or subconscious- effort is needed to maintain the output of the field and that the Parahuman being asleep causes degradation in the field strength. It snaps back to normal at around seven in the morning, however, indicating that even a second of consciousness recharges the field instantly."

"So the parahuman can be neutralised by someone applying a narcoleptic ability. Useful to know." The face of Cauldron nodded, "I'd better go and start organising things to take Brockton Bay out of our current plans until this parahuman is neutralised."

 _Abandoned Factory, Brockton Bay_

 _Taylor Hebert_

Sliding the last plate into place, I stepped back to look at my (current) greatest creation. It was a black and orange set of power armour, designed to be androgynous so no one could tell what my gender was while I was wearing it.

The armour, while basic, still granted me a Brute rating for added strength and durability and was proof against most small-arms fire. The entire armour was loaded with biometric sensors for monitoring my health and was loaded with a thin layer of a gel-like substance that looked radioactive (it wasn't) and acted like additional armour, even going so far as to mitigate and sometimes neutralise the physical impact of a bullet.

Sadly, it didn't last long under sustained fire, evaporating with each hit until it was gone, so the armour had an even more heavily armoured backpack that carried a hefty supply of both the neutralising gel and a supply of drugs for my on-board pharmacopeia. I had standard painkillers loaded up, as well as a green sludge of my own design that acted as a true panaceum, at least when it came to physical injuries. Lacerations, bruises, broken bones…you name it and the sludge fixed it. It was based on morphine, but had none of the addiction issues that the base drug had.

Mental issues, on the other hand, were not something it could fix, so I'd have to be careful there.

The helmet was loaded with as many gadgets as I could plausibly load into it at my current level of tech and the suit had its own VI (Virtual Intelligence) that ran most of the armour's functions and informed me whenever it used any of the healing agent or was close to running out of the neutralising agent.

I had 'acquired' weapons from the Merchants and had cleaned them up and modified them so they would interface with my armour's systems, allowing me to monitor how many bullets I had left and the condition of the weapon itself.

Looking around my workshop, I had to admit that I was lucky to stumble across one of Squealer's old places that, judging by the ramshackle state of the equipment and the dust covering the place, had been abandoned by quite a few years. Usually, infiltrating a Tinker's workshop was the height of foolishness due to the many and varied defences that they built into it. That wasn't the case here, as someone had smashed most of them. The few that hadn't been smashed were glitchy as hell and had been easy to bypass. I had repaired and upgraded them, making the place far more deadly to enter if I wasn't around to direct the defences.

Just about the only thing I didn't have was a name. Most Tinkers chose something that had to do with their specialty. Well, aside from the Tinkers in the Protectorate. Armsmaster had reputedly picked his name out of a hat, for example, and Hero, the most famous Tinker of all, hadn't taken anything to do with his specialty. Heck, Dragon, the best Tinker in the world, able to understand and copy the tech of other Tinkers, had a name that was only peripherally to do with her specialty.

My hand grazed the base of the throat of the suit, where a letter in the Greek alphabet stood proudly [λ].

"Lambda…yeah…that sounds OK." I mused aloud. All I had to do now was discover why I had this inexplicable urge to hit soldiers on the head with a crowbar.

 **In case it isn't clear enough, Taylor Triggered as a Tinker able to build equipment from Half Life and Half Life 2. Her specialty is officially Powered Armour and additional equipment for that powered armour, up to and including chemicals and weapons.**

 **Oh, and Happy New Year to all my followers.**

 **Tinker: 3 (Specialty: Powered Armour and Accessories. Able to create items such as the H.E.V. Suit and the P.C.V. Able to create or modify weapons that interface with the suit. Able to create a variety of chemicals that can be used in the armour, such as the medigel and the armour gel.)**

 **Shaker: 7 (Is able to surround crowbars and wrenches with a field that adds to their striking power and makes them more durable. Passively emits a field that shuts down all Thinkers that can see or alter the future in any way, shape or form. Regular Thinkers are unaffected, but especially powerful Thinkers may have their powers disrupted by mere proximity to Taylor. Cannot be seen by the Path to Victory. Any Thinker affected by her field suffers the most severe Thinker headache they have ever had.)**


	34. Loading Chapter 2

**Loading… Chapter Two (Original Chapter Chapter 11)**

Closing the blue screen for the moment, I lay back on my bed full of wonder. My powers were, evidently, the ability to make the world around me a game. I had to wonder what the hell kind of Power Rating I would receive from the PRT? I could modify my powers, so definitely a high-Trump Rating, at least.

My mind got distracted when a nurse came in and I spotted words floating above her head.

 **Stacy Carmichael**

 **LV14**

 **(Dedicated Nurse)**

"Hello dear." She said with a kind smile, "Nice to see you awake."

"Um, thanks." I said shyly, "What's the time? The clock seems to be missing."

"It's six in the morning, dear." She replied, looking at a spot on the wall with a frown, "Where _is_ that clock? Don't tell me Joshua made off with it again…?"

"Umm…who?"

"Oh…Joshua Kendrick, he's a dear boy, but he has severe Autism; nothing Panacea can do about that, I'm afraid. He comes in for check-ups every other week or so." She sighed, "He has this dislike of clock-hands ticking, so he takes them down, takes the batteries out and hides them somewhere in the room. It's a bit of a nuisance, but nothing major. If you spot them, let one of the on duty nurses know."

A *ding!* could be heard to my ears and I watched as a screen popped up in front of me.

 **[Quest Alert!]**

 **Clockstopper: An Autistic boy, Joshua Kendrick, has taken the clock in your room, removed the batteries and hidden all three items in the room somewhere. Locate all three items (batteries and clock) before the end of your hospital stay and inform the nurses where they are.**

 **Quest Reward: +50 Relationship with [Brockton Bay General Hospital Nursing Staff], +50 EXP**

 **Quest Failure: + 10 EXP**

 **Accept?**

 **Y/N**

Blinking, I took in the fact I was being offered something so…mundane, as an actual quest. Shrugging, I hit the 'Y' key, making the screen vanish as I said, "Sure."

"Now, I'll be taking some blood from you." Nurse Carmichael said as she picked a syringe up from the nearby table.

"Do you have to?" I eyed the needle of the thing with scant favour. I didn't have a fear of needles or anything, but I had very firm opinions of where my blood belongs, namely inside my body, where it belongs.

"I'm not sure if you know this, dear, but that…filth you were locked in with was technically toxic waste." The woman said firmly, "The doctors ran tests while you were unconscious, but they want to double check to make sure that you haven't gotten an infection or blood poisoning. You can never be too safe."

"Fine." I sighed.

Once the blood was out of me (I lost ten HP!) and the nurse was gone, I reopened the **[Queen Administrator]** skill tree and examined the first of the two powers I had purchased in addition to my basic powerset.

 **[Sensory Linking] (LV1, Max LV 5)**

 **{0/100 EXP to Level Up}**

 **Your power has grown to allow you to use the sensory organs of your Mastered Insects as your own. While confusing at first, with practice, you will be able to see, feel, hear, taste and smell through them, although it isn't advised that you feel, taste or smell through them.**

 **\- Link Reliability: 60%.**

 **\- Sensory Synchronisation: 50%.**

 **\- Counts as part of your Master Rating.**

In terms of immediate combat applications, this got zero out of ten. When you thought about how useful all of the insects would be as spies and scouts, however, it earned a full ten out of ten. Still, I'd have to practice doing it in order to level it up, which I could do a lot of in my current situation. It was amazing (and a little disturbing) for me to discover how many insects were inside even a building as supposedly clean and sterile as a hospital.

I turned my attention to the second power I had bought.

 **[Arachnid Tinkering] (LV1, Max LV 10)**

 **{0/150 EXP to Level Up}**

 **This grants you the ability to use the webbing and exoskeletons of spiders to create clothing and armour. With higher levels and the addition of other skills you can even make biological alterations to spiders, but nothing compared to Nilbog or Bonesaw. It also has the effect of granting you additional control over any and all forms of arachnids and allowing you to see any parts that would be useful for a design you are working on. Higher levels also grant you additional bonuses to clothes and armour that you make.**

 **\- Unlocks the [Tinker] Special Status! Congratulations, you are now a Tinker 1!**

 **\- Unlocks Tinker Specialisation: Spider Silk Clothing and Armour.**

 **\- Grants [Control: Above Average] when Mastering any and all Arachnids.**

 **\- Any spider parts (webbing, chitin) that can be used for your creations will light up in yellow in your sight.**

 **\- Grants a +10 to the Durability and Armour stats of any items you create within your specialisation, in addition to any other bonuses.**

This…was pretty major. I mean, seriously. One of the major problems of being an independent hero was the lack of resources when you were starting up. This could be a godsend, both for acquiring funds and for making my own costume. Just off the top of my head, I knew of one Rogue Cape, Parian, who would likely pay very well for Spider Silk for her clothes.

Leaving the money calculations for the moment, I decided to look through the screens to find out what this 'relationship' thing was about. I had a vague idea, but I wanted to know more. It failed to surprise me that a screen popped up in front of me.

 **[Relationship and You]**

 **The relationship stats show the standing that you have with people, organisation and countries. There are nine stages of the [Relationship] status. From worst to best they are: [At War], [Hated], [Disliked], [Unfriendly], [Neutral], [Friendly], [Well Liked], [Honoured] and [Exalted]. Each has a buff or debuff to interactions with the person/organisation/country in question and there are consequences to having a good relationship with one organisation.**

 **For example, say you get on well with the [Azn Bad Boyz], having a [Well-Liked] relationship with them. That will automatically put you at the [Disliked] relationship level with [Empire 88], [Archer's Bridge Merchants], [Parahuman Response Team ENE], [Protectorate ENE] and [Wards ENE]. Be careful, therefore, before you befriend any group or organisation, as each action will have a similar and opposing reaction.**

That was…informative. So getting friendly with one group meant getting flak from the others. The groups mentioned were the main players in Brockton Bay; the Pan-Asian Supremacists, the Nazis, the Druggies, the PRT and the Protectorate's senior and junior branches. There were others in the Bay; Über and L33T, the Game Addict Capes, the Undersiders, a group of Hit-and-Run Thieves, Coil, a man people didn't know much about, Faultline's Crew, mercs for hire and maybe a couple of other Capes like Parian floating around.

 **For correctly recalling the major and minor players in the Bay, you receive +1 WIS!**

This made me blink. So by fulfilling some criteria, I received bonus points to my physical and mental stats?

 **For correctly deducing an aspect of your power, you receive +1 INT!**

That confirmed it.

Once again deciding to move on, I returned to the skill window and gazed at it pensively. I had eight Power Distribution Points left over from purchasing the basic skills in the tutorial and I decided that I needed to have a look at wheat other skills I could pick up.

Opening the [Combat] skill tree, my eyes crossed when I saw the number of skills I had available. Thankfully, there was a filter, so I organised it to view all skills from cheapest to most expensive. After blanking out for a moment, it obeyed, displaying all the options available for one PP. There were still a lot of them, so I took my time and browsed through the choices. One caught my eye and I pressed it for more information.

 **[Close Combat Proficiency] (LV1, Max Level 15)**

 **Gives you basic skill in fighting with your bare hands. Nothing more than basic street fighting at first, but everyone has to start somewhere.**

 **Do you wish to purchase this skill for [1] Power Point?**

 **Yes/No**

Hitting 'Yes', I grinned as a confirmation screen appeared.

 **You have successfully learned [Close Combat Proficiency]!**

 **[Close Combat Proficiency] (LV1, Max Level 15)**

 **{0/125 to Level Up}**

 **Fighting has occurred within humanity since they were Neanderthals fighting over scraps of meat during the Ice Age. The oldest form is using your bare hands and feet. This skill grants you knowledge about fighting in general, if not an actual fighting style. Once this skill has been mastered, you can learn a proper combat style.**

 **\- Grants knowledge of how to fight without injuring yourself; the proper way to clench a fist for a punch, etcetera.**

 **\- Grants +5 to all damage dealt while unarmed or while armed with [Glove] or [Gauntlet] type weapons.**

To say that I was impressed was an understatement. Now that I had read it, I did know how to throw a punch, dodge and roll and a host of other minor tricks that would let me fight decently, if not gracefully.

I closed the screen as I heard someone coming, thought I knew that only I could see it. Still, you never know if there's a Parahuman around when they're out of costume, so there's no point being careless.

"Taylor!" a familiar voice boomed as a tall wiry man entered the room.

"Dad!" I exclaimed happily. I paused as I saw words floating above his head.

 **Danny Hebert**

 **LV20**

 **(Dockworker's Union Representative/Danny the Demon)**

That had me blinking in shock. Dad was the Union Representative of the Dockworker's Association, but the second title gave me pause. He did have a horrible temper, one he had never turned on his family, but to the point that people gave him a nickname because of it?

"How are you?" Dad asked, drawing me from my thoughts.

"Fine. Had to have blood taken to check to see if I have any infections, but other than that, nothing." I answered, "What time is it?"

"Just after eight." Dad replied as he sat on the chair next to my bed, "Taylor…the school was in contact…"

I felt my expression shut down as a notification popped up stating that [Gamer's Mind] had activated.

"Let me guess," I said bitterly, "They'll pay for the hospital bills and my books, but nothing else, right? And no one has come forward to confirm who it was who pushed me into…The Locker."

It was so easy to predict Blackwell that I wanted to hurl.

"Pretty much." Dad winced sympathetically, "We could sue, but we really can't afford it. I'm sorry, Taylor."

It made me so **MAD**! The Bitch Trio was getting away with murder _again_! I hated the fact that we had no choice here! Grrr….I would so find out what the hell the Trio had that had Winslow eating out of their hands. It couldn't be Sophia's status as a star athlete or the fact Emma's dad was a high-priced divorce lawyer. The situation was too abnormal for that.

 **[Quest Alert!]**

 **Something's Fishy in Denmark…: You have determined that the attitude of the staff of Winslow High School is abnormal in regards to you and the Bitch Trio. Discover the cause of this oddity and expose the truth!**

 **Quest Reward: +1000 EXP, +$100, [Chitin and Spider Silk Helmet], The Truth.**

 **Quest Failure: Possible Death and/or maiming.**

 **Note: This Quest is compulsory, so is automatically accepted.**

I ignored the screen with some difficulty as I smiled wanly at Dad and said, "It's OK Dad. I understand."

Dad looked stricken for a moment before ruffling my hair with one hand. "You're a stronger person than I am, Little Owl. Anyway, once you're out of hospital, the school have given you two weeks off school to recover."

"Oh…that's…surprising." I said blankly. I had half-expected them to demand that I get back to school and stop 'faking' being ill.

"They didn't really have much choice in the matter." Dad smirked at this point, "You were unconscious for two days, Taylor, during which time I had Kurt, Lacy and a few others picket the school. The Principal was…more _accommodating_ after that."

I gaped at him. "Go Dad!"

He kept on smirking. "Your old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve, Taylor. I've already replaced your schoolbooks and gotten your homework assignments for the next two weeks. Most of your teachers have been nice enough to say that if you complete and hand in the homework, they'll treat it as classwork too. Some haven't, like that Gladly fellow."

Mr Gladly was a teacher who kissed up to all the popular kids and all but ignored the rest of us. He tried to make everyone call him 'Mr G' like he was a pop idol or something.

"I'll handle him, Dad." I said with a small smile, "Just…can you talk to them and see if they can accept me coming in to the Teacher's Lounge before classes start to hand my homework in? Otherwise, it'll go missing again."

This made Dad's face tighten in anger before he calmed himself down. "Sure. I'll make a point of insisting that it become the new status quo."

After talking for a while longer, I shooed Dad away to go to work, telling him to send my gratitude to everyone who had helped to picket the school. Kurt and Lacy were my godparents and it was so nice of them to help Dad like that. I resolved to send some of Mom's recipe lasagne over to them as thanks once I got out of hospital.

Pulling up my Status screen again, I looked at the numbers and frowned. There was nothing wrong with my mental stats; they were nice and high. The problem was that my physical stats were too low by comparison. Seeing as I had twenty-five Attribute points in my pool, I decided to up them a bit. I dumped ten into Toughness, eight into Strength and six of the remaining seven into Dexterity, which brought their values up to twenty all around.

Saving that last point for later, I decided to have a look for those clock parts with my bugs. It would be good practice, anyway.

 _Two Days later_

"Free at last!" I crowed as I walked through the doors of the hospital, heading home at last.

Dad was chuckling as he walked beside me. "You really don't like being in hospital, do you Little Owl?"

"It's more the fact that I hate lying around with nothing to do all day." I corrected him, "I mean, I did manage to get through quite a bit of my homework, but something fun to do, like read a novel, would have been a welcome break from the monotony."

Truth be told, I had kept busy with my powers, moving bugs all over the place to find that dratted clock in my room. The kid who hid it was a smart one; he'd somehow slipped the batteries through the grills of the air vent and put the clock itself behind the dresser in the room. Tricky guy.

"Well, you'll have a chance to, because I'm putting a pause on you doing your homework for the next couple of days." Dad said with a grin, "Seeing how you worked so diligently at your homework while in hospital, I think you've earned a few days off."

"Thanks Dad." I said happily. I mean, working on my homework had raised my Wisdom and Intelligence by a couple more points each, but being able to relax was good too. If I started it right after my holiday's days, I could probably finish it all by the end of the week, leaving me plenty of time to test my powers.

The next couple of days were restful and relaxing, aside from cleaning up the kitchen from Dad's attempts to use an appliance other than the microwave. I swear, he can burn water when he tries to boil it and that's impossible!

Dad appreciated my cooking skills being back in the house, especially when I made Mom's Lasagne. It always brought back memories of Mom to him whenever he ate it.

After my 'holidays' were over with, I got stuck into my homework and finished it by the next Monday, which was a bit longer than I had anticipated, but it was because I had to review material that I hadn't gone over properly thanks to the Bitch Trio destroying my books multiple times.

THEN I got started on properly testing my power. It took a while, but I figured out how to sync my senses with my insects. It took some time to figure it out, surprisingly enough, but once I figured out the trick, it became easier to do with each try. The fact I was succeeding so often with the sync ratio being only 50% and the reliability of that synchronisation link being only 60% was rather astounding.

Eventually…

 **{[Sensory Linking] has levelled up! LV1-LV2!}**

When I pulled it up, I was very pleasantly surprised.

 **[Sensory Linking] (LV2, Max LV 5)**

 **{35/200 EXP to Level Up}**

 **Your power has grown to allow you to use the sensory organs of your Mastered Insects as your own. While confusing at first, with practice, you will be able to see, feel, hear, taste and smell through them, although it isn't advised that you feel, taste or smell through them.**

 **\- Link Reliability: 75%.**

 **\- Sensory Synchronisation: 65%.**

 **\- Counts as part of your Master Rating.**

Both of the main parts of the skill had been jumped up by 15%, which was phenomenal. A large grin crossed my face as I lay on my bed. Once I had a chance to get this skill maxed, out, whatever secret the Bitch Trio had wasn't going to remain a secret for very long.

 **As requested, chapter two of this ficlet. Now the way I'm going to be writing these second chapters will be a bit random. Some of them will be immediate follow-on chapters from what I've already had written (like this one), some will be after minor-to-major timeskips, while some will be flashbacks.**


	35. As Solid as the Earth Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 of As Solid as the Earth (Original chapter Chapter 18)**

Taylor glared half-heartedly at the villainess who had snuck up on her while she was brooding on the roof of the building she had fled to after killing the mad Tinker Bakuda and almost killing the Breaker twins of the Empire 88 Fenja and Menja. She was exhausted and depressed and _really_ didn't need to deal with this crap right at this minute.

Tattletale's grin morphed into a serious expression. "Look, you killed Bakuda, which means you've done everyone in the city a big favour. I'm not here to fight you, trick you or anything. From what I can tell, you haven't eaten all day and that isn't good. Take it."

She extended the pizza box and placed it on the ground before backing up a few steps. Taylor was going to refuse but her stomach reminded her rather loudly that the villainess was correct in her deduction that it was empty and that it would like her to rectify the situation at some point. Preferably right now!

Reluctantly, she grabbed the pizza box and opened it up, the warm air trapped within releasing a delicious scent of melted cheese, meats and herbs when she did so. Hungrily, she devoured half of the pizza in short order before remembering her manners and offering some to Tattletale.

"Thank you." the blond Cape nodded graciously, contenting herself with a single slice, "You must have been very hungry."

"Yeah...I hadn't even eaten breakfast when dad...!" Taylor felt her throat choke as she was reminded again that she had lost her only family.

Tattletale bowed her head slightly and said sincerely, "I am sorry for your loss."

There was silence between the two of them as they finished the pizza between them. Tattletale then got up and stretched.

"Ahhh. Now, I'd advise you to sneak home and hide. Call...damn, no relatives? OK, call friends of the family." she instructed Taylor, "This number is for a burner phone I have. If you want to talk, call me. I'll probably call you sooner though; you need to have a crash-course in Cape etiquette after what you did to Menja and Fenja. Haven't you ever heard of the Unwritten Rules?"

Seeing the unresponsive and obviously baffled body language of the new Cape, Tattletale sighed. "Evidently not. A quick update then; beating other Capes to within an inch of their lives is a big no-no. You knock them out or immobilise them. Killing is usually off the table too, but since that bitch Bakuda had a kill order out on her head after the first hour of her bombing spree, you're in the clear. You could even go to the PRT and claim the bounty on her head, although you'd have to endure their attempts to make you join up with the Wards, which you don't want, I think."

Taylor shook her head firmly. "No...no, I don't. I just...I need time...to mourn and...adjust to...this."

She waved at her makeshift costume, indicating her powers and new occupation in that one wave.

"Understandable. I did the same after I Triggered." the blond nodded, "Another thing; do _not_ ask what someone's Trigger was. All of them, aside from Second Generation Capes like Panacea and Glory Girl, are usually the very _worst_ events possible to happen to a human. Years of frustration building up to explode in a single moment, being physically or mentally tortured or even undergoing a traumatic event like today...all of those are possible Trigger Events. Asking about them is at best a faux-pas and at worst being rude and insensitive. Just a quick heads up."

"Got it." Taylor nodded. She pointed one hand at the pile of rocks that had been her flying platform until recently and they snapped back together like a jigsaw and the whole ting, about a meter square, floated inches from the roof surface. With a hop, the new Cape jumped atop it and sped off into the darkening night.

Tattletale, left alone atop the building, sighed. She doubted that she could keep her association with 'Gaia' a secret from Coil, her bastard of a boss, for long, but maybe she could evade him long enough to make sure the girl, whoever she was behind the mask, knew enough not to get caught out by either the PRT (self-righteous bastards) or Coil (murderous unholy bastard).

' _The amount of pain and sorrow she was in was almost sore for my power._ ' she thought as she headed to the roof access point she had used to get up to the roof in the first place, ' _It was...sobering to see, even just with my power. Someone royally screwed her over, multiple times, and she still had the self-control and desire to live to not try and off herself. I just hope that doesn't fade with her losing her last parent._ '

 _A Few Days Later_

Taylor sighed as she lay back on her bed. The last few days had been trying and taxing beyond all reckoning. Her Dad -or the glass statue that had _been_ her Dad- had been interred next to her mother, Kurt and Lacey, her godparents, had been officially made her guardians when her father's family (the bastards) refused to acknowledge that she even existed. Not that she wanted them to.

She still lived in her house, alone. Kurt and Lacey had very little room in their house and only lived a few blocks away, so she basically had free run of the house as long as she kept it in good condition, went to school on time and put up with Lacey dropping by three times a week after school. It was fairly easy to do, as she had pretty much done all of the household chores since her Mom died anyway.

She hadn't gone out in 'costume' since she had killed Bakuda, but the forums on PHO had been exploding with reports and speculations on the mysterious Cape who slew Bakuda and left Fenja and Menja in comas. The PRT and the Protectorate had given her the codename 'Gaia' after the Ancient Greek Titaness of Earth, which was surprisingly apt coming from the government. The last person to be named by the PRT had suffered for years under the name 'Chubster'.

Shudder.

Taylor wasn't even certain that she wanted to continue as a Cape. She had been completely out of control, zooming all over the Bay like a madwoman and actually killing someone. Heroes didn't kill, even scum like Bakuda. Let alone what she had done to the twins.

' _Then again,_ they _were the ones who tried to crush me into dust first._ ' she reasoned, ' _I doubt Kaiser is going to take that as an answer though. The number of Nazi's Tin_Mother has hit with the banhammer in the last few days for making death threats to me makes that clear enough._ '

She snorted and stood up, heading to her new (to her) computer and started it up. She checked PHO every day for news about the state of the city, taking the news with a pinch of salt. You could never trust everything on the internet, after all.

A private message in her account made her pause.

 _From: All_Seeing_Eye_

 _Hey newbie. Took me a while to track you down. Call me on the phone you have the number to. Got some news for you._

This made Taylor shiver. What the hell was Tattletale's power that allowed her to track someone down without much in the way of clues? All PHO could tell her was that it was some kind of Thinker power, based solely on the fact she showed no other powers in her few appearances with the Undersiders. This just confirmed it for her though.

Calling the number was easy, but the implications made her hesitate. If she called the number, Tattletale would know for certain who she was and even where she lived. But, given that she had been tracked with the smallest amount of information she had given the villainess on the roof on that terrible day, it was likely she could track Taylor down even if she took truly paranoiac and draconian measures to conceal herself.

Deciding to do the Solomon thing, Taylor went out and used some of her allowance from her godparents to buy three burner phones. She decided that one would be used for her Cape career, should she decide to continue it, with the other as a spare.

" _About time you called me._ " was the first thing Tattletale said when she picked up, " _Don't recognise the number...a burner phone? Very clever. I_ could _get around that, but I won't. Anyway, would you like to meet up? I still need to tell you the rest of the Rules and I can advise you on what you can do in regards to a costume, if you like._ "

"Err...OK. How does tomorrow after school grab you?" Taylor asked uncertainly. She hadn't met up with anyone outside of school since Emma's betrayal.

" _Sounds good. Outside Fugly Bob's?_ "

"OK. Wait, are you coming in costume?" Taylor was suspicious again.

" _Nope. I pretty much know who you are, so consider this a way of balancing the scales._ " Tattletale replied casually, sending chills down Taylor's spine. This girl scared the crap out of her, and she was a more physical threat that the blond Cape.

"See you then." Taylor said with a frown. She sighed as she disassembled the phone and hid it in her room. Even although the teenage villainess had helped her take down Bakuda, this was still risky for her. Visions of being shanghaied danced through Taylor's mind until she remembered Tattletale going on about some 'Unwritten Rules' when she met her. Maybe one of them would stop her?

What should she do...?

 **Yes, a little cliffy for all of you.**


	36. Plant Growth Chapter 2

**Plant Growth Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 4)**

 _Dallon Residence_

Carol Dallon looked around as the entirety of New Wave sat in the living room and decided to get things started. Clearing her throat, she saw her husband react by turning towards her, as did…Amy…and Victoria. Eric and Crystal got a nudge from their mother, her sister Sarah Pelham, while Neil, her husband, took a moment longer to pay attention.

Family. They're worse than dealing with defence lawyers.

"I assume you've all heard about the incident at Winslow High a few days ago?" she asked as an opener.

Victoria snorted. "We'd have to live under a rock to not have heard about it."

Shooting a quelling look at her niece, Sarah said, "Quite. I take it you've been contacted by the PRT?"

"No; by the person responsible for turning Winslow into a tropical garden." Carol replied, "A fresh Trigger, codenamed Avatar."

"Is she requesting your services as a lawyer?" Sarah pressed.

"Quite the contrary." The younger of the two sisters answered, "She's requested to join New Wave."

The room was silent for a moment before Neil cleared his throat and said, "I think we should start at the beginning, Carol."

"A fair point." She conceded, "Avatar was the subject to a severe bullying campaign that lasted over fifteen months by what amounts to the entire student population of Winslow either actively taking part in it or passively accepting that it happens and ignoring her. The staff were either complicit in a conspiracy of ignorance or the most incompetent people I have ever seen issued teacher's licences."

"That's…!" Amy shook her head in disbelief, "The poor girl."

"It gets worse. The Winslow Incident was a result of her Triggering after being shut inside a locker full of biological waste…by Shadow Stalker's civilian identity."

All of her family stiffened in horror at that. A _Protectorate Ward_ torturing someone into Triggering was…very bad for the PR of the PRT and the Protectorate.

"I never liked Shadow Stalker!" Victoria snarled, her aura starting up in her anger before her sister calmed her down, "She was a snarky bitch!"

"Language, Victoria." Carol said absently, "I agree with the sentiment though. Sadly, Piggot is determined to both keep the news of who was responsible for Avatar's Trigger quiet _and_ keep Shadow Stalker as a PRT resource. The media are being leaned on to not mention anything about who made Avatar Trigger and Shadow Stalker is being shipped to the furthest away Simurgh Containment Zone as we speak; Lausanne, I believe."

"Good riddance." Crystal opined.

"Agreed." Sarah said, shaking her head in disgust at both Shadow Stalker's deeds and the blatant cover-up that was being put into place to save the reputation of the PRT in the eyes of the public.

"You say she wants to join New Wave?" Mark asked, unusual for him, "Doesn't she know about our policy of unmasking?"

"She does and has no problem with it." Carol replied almost smugly, "She has an almost permanent Breaker power that makes holding a secret identity close to impossible for her. Much like how Victoria cannot fully control her aura, she cannot supress her Breaker ability for longer than a handful of minutes, with considerable effort."

"The PRT had her in for testing, right?" Eric asked almost eagerly, "What's her Power Rating?"

"Shaker 7, Master 6, Breaker 5, Striker 5, Thinker 5 and Biotinker 5." Carol listed. Amy's eyes went wide at the last rating.

"A Biotinker? Like Bonesaw?" Mark asked in concern.

"To be precise, Biotinker 5, specialty: Plants." His wife said reassuringly, "She has no ability to manipulate anything but plants, but she can manipulate plants from a distance thanks to her Shaker abilities. She can create plants from nothing, as was evidenced at Winslow, and she even made a plant that produces a very effective painkiller as a thank-you gift to the Wards-sans-Shadow Stalker. Which reminds me Amy; the PRT want you to have a look at one of the Wards when they take it to see if it has any untoward effects."

"OK, but if her power works anything like mine, her creations will be exactly what she wants them to be." The prodigal healer said with a shrug, "I see a fistula and I close it, I see cancerous cells and I remove them and use the biomass to replace them with healthy cells. If her Biotinker rating is any indication, she's likely even more precise than I am."

"Noted, but the PRT is instant." Carol said neutrally.

"So when do we meet her?" Victoria asked eagerly. She loved meeting people.

"She's still in the middle of undergoing a psychological review in the aftermath of her Trigger, so I'd say a week, at least." Carol said after a moment of thought, "She is, quite understandably, leery of authority figures, so I was thinking that sending in you younger ones to meet her first would probably be a good move."

"Sounds like a plan." Sarah nodded, "Crystal, Eric, Vicky, Amy? Opinions?"

"I'm game." Crystal said with a nod.

"Ok." Eric nodded in time with his sister.

"I'm in." Victoria grinned, "Whatcha say, Ames?"

Amy looked torn for a moment before nodding slightly. "OK. I want to see if I can help her anyway. There's a chance she could have infections or something from that biological waste."

"I doubt that will be necessary." Carol said firmly, "Her Breaker state turns her body into a humanoid plant unless she concentrates on suppressing it. I don't doubt that she purged any infections from her system by now."

"It never hurts to be certain." Sarah countered, "That's a very nice idea, Amy."

The healer blushed at her aunt's praise.

 _A Week Later_

 _The Former Winslow Highschool Campus_

"Whew. The news reports don't do it justice." Glory Girl whistled as she floated in mid-air with Panacea in her arms. Laserdream and Shielder flanked her. The growth from Avatar's Triggering had blossomed even in her absence, with the entirety of the brickwork covered by vines, creepers and other flora. Even the grounds were a veritable jungle now, with no way into the place by foot. There was, however a circular clearing with a path leading to the doors of the former school.

"Damn. Wish she'd done this to Arcadia." Shielder said enviously.

Laserdream whacked her brother on the arm. "No, you don't, because otherwise we'd be going here and this place was a gang-infested hellhole from what I hear."

As they touched down, they spotted a tall, gangly man exit the area that had once been Winslow's front doors and head towards them. He was dressed in a rumpled suit and wore glasses. A tired look on his face told them he hadn't had much sleep.

"Hello there," the man greeted them when he reached a metre away from them and stopped, "I'm Danny Hebert, Avatar's father."

"Nice to meet you." Glory Girl said with a friendly smile, "I'm Glory Girl, this is my sis Panacea, and my cousins Laserdream and Shielder."

"A pleasure to meet you all." Danny said with a tired smile, "My daughter's inside the Greenhouse, so follow me."

"The Greenhouse?" Laserdream had to ask as they started forward.

"Avatar thought it was a bit silly to call the place Winslow now that it's officially been declared derelict by the city." The man shrugged, "And it was the only reasonable thing to call a place full of plants."

"How is Avatar after…what happened?" Panacea asked quietly.

"She's…coping." Danny sighed as they approached the entrance, "I can only guess at how she's really doing; we've become estranged since her mother…died two years ago. That's what started all of this."

"What do you mean?" Shielder asked.

"When Annette…died, I fell to pieces." The man admitted unhappily, "I couldn't function as a man, let alone as a father. Avatar…did better. She had her friend Emma to hold her together, then I sent her to Summer Camp to help get over it all. When she came back though…Emma had changed. She ignored Avatar, and grew close to Shadow Stalker.

"Apparently, Shadow Stalker saved Emma from some thugs and caught her at a low point. She whispered her ridiculous 'The Strong are predators and the Weak are prey' philosophy into her ear. And my daughter got caught up in it."

"That's awful." Glory Girl frowned.

"Emma used all of my daughters secrets, the ones she had been told in confidence, to hurt her." Danny went on, "I had to stop myself from punching Alan Barnes when he blustered about Emma not being responsible due to her being Mastered. Idiot. Shadow Stalker has no Master Powers."

"Doesn't Alan Barnes work with Mom?" Panacea asked Glory Girl, but Danny heard her as well.

"Not anymore. He's been kicked out of his position and right to the curb for all the bad publicity he's brought to the firm." He said with grim satisfaction, "And Emma's been sent to a psychologist to undo or mitigate Shadow Stalker's programming."

The interior of the Greenhouse was a surprise for them all. Expecting the same green vines and plant life that was on the outside, they were taken aback by the plain and empty corridors that seemed wider with the lockers ripped out.

"I persuaded the city to hire the Dockworker's Union to move all the stuff out of the school." Danny explained, "Money in the pocket for us and good publicity to boot. Most of this place is empty now, but Avatar's got plans to make it into a home away from home, as well as a place to experiment with her plants."

"What happened there?" Glory Girl pointed out a section of the walls and ceiling that had been wholly replaced by plant life.

"Über and L33t got it into their heads to raid the place with the theme of _Plants vs. Zombies_." Danny said dryly, "L33t actually did quite well with his zombie robots, but they were no match for my daughter when they interrupted one of her experiments."

Amy winced. Attacking _any_ Tinker in their workshop was foolhardy at best and suicidal at worst. This went double for a Biotinker.

"Ah, here we are." Danny said as they came to what must be the former Principal's office, "She wanted to meet you all by herself, so I'll head back to what I was doing when you showed up. Just…please be her friends. She's very lonely."

"We'll do our best, Mr Hebert." Laserdream assured him with a smile.

Nodding, the balding man wished them a good day and headed off to do whatever task he had been doing before he had gone out to meet them. Glory Girl set her shoulders and knocked on the door.

"Oh! Come in!" a voice called from within.

When she opened the door, Glory Girl and the rest of the younger generation of New Wave were confronted with the sight of a green-skinned girl, with heterochromatic eyes of glowing neon green and a warm earthy brown and long brown hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a white cotton t-shirt smiling nervously at them.

"Hi." She said, "I'm Taylor Hebert, otherwise known as Avatar."

Once introductions were made, the New Wave contingent sat on a bench seemingly made out of vines that was surprisingly comfortable. Amy was looking the girl over with the eye of an experienced medic, but paused when she reached her feet.

"Umm…why're you barefoot?" she asked.

Taylor looked at her feet and blushed. Well, her cheeks got greener, which probably counted. "I can't stand having artificial fabrics near me anymore. They give me a rash…or whatever you'd call something similar in plants. I've worked out a deal with Parian to supply me with some all-natural shoes in exchange for some enhanced cotton that I'm growing in the old gym right now."

"Enhanced cotton?" Laserdream asked in disbelief.

"Yup. Cotton strong enough to be woven together and used like Kevlar." Taylor smirked, "I can also make fire-resistant and heat-retentive varieties as well."

"Wow." Shielder said, "Why all the secrecy though?"

Taylor grimaced at that. "Piggot. She's a paranoiac when it comes to Biotinkers, not without reason. If she had her way, I'd be stuck with just making ordinary plants."

"As you say, she has good reason…what with being one of only two survivors of Ellisburg and all." Laserdream said judiciously.

"I know, but…I'm not Bonesaw. I'm not Blasto. And I am not Nilbog." The green-skinned girl sighed, "She's judging me because of something I can't help. I didn't ask for these powers; I wanted to be an Alexandria-type!"

"Best kind of Cape to be!" Glory Girl smirked at her, "Seriously though, just don't make flesh-eating plants and you'll be fine."

Taylor raised an eyebrow at her. "You do know there are a good number of carnivorous plants, such as the Venus Flytrap, naturally occurring in the world? With North America having about 67 of them here?"

Glory Girl blanched.

"Most of them only eat insects, small mammals or small birds though, so you don't have to worry." Taylor said reassuringly, "I have no intentions of making those kinds of plants and have eliminated any that I accidentally created during my Trigger. That is what you call the event where you get powers, right?"

"Yes, it is." Panacea nodded, "We Second-Generation Capes have milder ones than First-Generation Capes, but it's still…unpleasant. Can I ask what you look like without your powers active?"

"Sure, but I can only hold it for about five minutes." Taylor warned her before closing her eyes. The change was startling as green faded to the colour of healthy skin. When she opened her eyes once again, both of them were a muted green colour similar to her father's eyes.

"Man. Feels weird to have flesh and bone instead of plants for my body." She commented as she flexed her hand uneasily, "I feel…vulnerable."

"I know the feeling." Glory Girl said, "Whenever someone managed to punch me strong enough, I'm like 'ow!'"

"May I use my powers to examine your change back to your Breaker form?" Panacea asked, ignoring her sister, "I've never seen a Breaker form with a powerful physical affect that I can monitor. I couldn't do it to Shadow Stalker, so I'd like to examine you."

"Sure. I'd actually like to see how fit I am in my human form actually." Taylor extended her hand and Panacea took it and concentrated.

"You're perfectly fit, but you need glasses." She announced.

"Damn. Guess that's why everything's blurry." Taylor cursed, "I'm fine in plant form though. What the heck?"

"To quote Clockblocker of the Wards, 'Powers are bullshit.'" Glory Girl said with a firm nod, "Looks like you get superhuman constitution and sight correction in your Breaker form."

"Lucky there." Shielder pointed out, "Glasses would be a pain to have to use in a Cape fight."

"Like with Über and L33t." Laserdream agreed, "I hear they made a run at you already. _Plants vs. Zombies_ , wasn't it?"

"Urgh, yes." Taylor rolled her eyes, "They had even loaded their zombie robots with a weird Tinker-made weed killer that spread after I destroyed each robot. The number of times I had to regrow my vines was ridiculous. Still they thanked me for being a 'good sport' after the last of their robots was destroyed before hightailing it out of here. I altered all my plants to be resistant to that particular weed killer, plus most commercial brands of weed killer, afterwards."

"Sounds like them." Laserdream said with a chuckle, "One of the introductory things in the hero business is beating those two. No one takes them seriously, but they are something like a rite of passage for us."

"Nice to know." Taylor said with a smile before she put a serious expression on, "Listen, I got contacted on PHO by someone who told me not to join New Wave."

"Who?!" Glory Girl sounded insulted.

"Lightstar." Taylor replied simply, making the other teens' eyes widen in shock. Lightstar had been Fleur's boyfriend and had left both New Wave and Brockton Bay when she had been murdered in her civilian identity by a Nazi Cape looking to impress Kaiser.

"Lightstar is…with good reason to warn you." Laserdream said carefully, "What happened to Fleur was tragic, but it isn't likely to happen again, not since Kaiser made an example out of the Cape responsible."

By 'making an example,' Laserdream was referring to how Kaiser had crucified and almost killed the Cape responsible before delivering him to the PRT building for arrest.

"I know." Taylor nodded, "I'm more worried for my Dad than I am about myself, though. I've made some plants that masquerade as common houseplants but act as sentries for him when at home or at work, but…"

Panacea, who was still holding her hand, gave it a squeeze. "Don't worry. We look after family in New Wave. We can upgrade your security system and have Flashbang hang out with him to act as a bodyguard."

"Nice idea, sis." Glory Girl said enthusiastically, "Maybe that'll get Dad out of his funk."

"That sounds nice." Taylor said with a smile, "Oh, I'm about to change back, Panacea."

The healer concentrated as Taylor once again became Avatar, green encroaching on pink skin. One of her eyes glowed the luminous green it had before while the other darkened to brown.

"Wow…" Panacea said in a distant voice, "That was…wow. Your entire body is now exactly like a plant, the cells are full of chlorophyll. You don't even need to eat so long as you absorb enough sunlight thanks to photosynthesis. Your hair is made of plants too; spider plant, vines and the like. And…what's this…? Wow, you even have the ability to make poisons and other chemicals and deploy them from your hands. That must be your Striker ability."

"Yep." Avatar nodded with a grin, "As long as it exists in nature, I can alter the structure of the liquid and use it at once. Artificial mixes take a bit longer, but they are doable. Mostly I stick with a fast-acting numbing agent or some form of anaesthesia."

"You can make counteragents to them as well." Panacea noted as she reluctantly released Avatar's hand, "Honestly, watching your Breaker state activate with my power is…fascinating. I can't use my power on plants very well, but I can tell some things about them, and the change from human to plant is…beautiful, at least from my power's perspective."

Avatar blushed again, not used to having any part of her complimented. "Thanks."

"So whaddya say? Join New Wave?" Glory Girl asked with a grin.

The plant-girl nodded. "I'm in."

 **I quite like this one. Let me know what you think.**


	37. Trial by Fire Chapter 2

**Trial By Fire Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 22)**

Armsmaster glared up at Pyroclasm as she easily melted the special bolas that he had made to restrain her. That was an unexpected wrinkle. He had had Dauntless fire a powerful beam at those to make sure they could resist extreme temperatures.

"So what now?" the fiery Cape asked, folding her arms and seeming to glare down at him, although the blue flames obscuring the woman's face made it hard to tell.

"Now you come quietly." He said firmly, "I am the Head of the Protectorate and I _will_ take you to see the Director to explain your actions."

"My…actions?" Pyroclasm asked sceptically, "Beating up some gangbangers who were loaded with enough guns to start a firearms association and taking down Lung, you mean? I fail to see what is so questionable about that."

"You have upset the balance of power in the Bay." Armsmaster growled, irked at the obtuse nature of the Cape before him, "Once the Empire and the Merchants hear about Lung being defeated, they'll start a gang war unlike anything seen in the Bay since the Empire and the Marquisate drove the Teeth out."

Cocking her head to one side nonchalantly, Pyroclasm considered that before shrugging. "So I broke the status quo and actually accomplished something for a change, unlike the Protectorate. The solution here is obvious; I go and reduce the Empire and Merchants power as well."

"Not happening." The Tinker said firmly as he toggled a switch on his halberd, prompting the business end to hiss open and spit out another pair of bolas at the vigilante. He was careful to avoid aiming at her neck, as bolas could and would kill a person if they landed there.

It was for naught, as a wall of blue flames flared up and devoured the projectiles mere feet from his target. Evidently, as long as she was aware of a threat incoming, she could deploy one of those defensive screens at will. Useful information.

"That halberd is starting to bother me." Pyroclasm said irritably before raising one hand and unleashing a large blast of orange fire that soared towards him like a bullet from a gun. Armsmaster dodged to the side, but his motorcycle got caught by the flames and he watched helplessly as the orange flames devoured it, leaving only the tyres, wire insulation and instrument glass behind.

Growling in anger, Armsmaster turned back to face the pyrokinetic Cape. "That," he said faux-calmly, "was a mistake."

Leaping onto the building nearby was trivial given the strength enhancing potions of his armour. Most people didn't know about it though, since he didn't show off on camera. Thus seeing Pyroclasm taken aback at his surprising feat of agility was satisfying for the Tinker. He bounded forwards and fully deployed his halberd, the edge of his signature weapon gleaming in the light of the flames.

Pyroclasm casually reached out and a green spear of flames appeared in her hand. Spinning it around, she counter-charged him and lashed out with her weapon, the spear meeting his halberd with an explosion of green flames.

Covering his face from the glare, he made a mental note to replace the lenses with photo-reactive ones for when something like this happened again. When he looked back at his weapon he frowned at the sight off a warped and melting axe blade. The metal he had used for his halberd's blade was even stronger than the type he had used for the bolas and one strike had warped it this badly?

"My green fire combines extreme temperatures with concussive force." Pyroclasm informed him, "The combination when compressed into a spear like this allowed me to defeat Lung. You are no Lung, Armsmaster. Back. Down."

"Not happening." Armsmaster repeated. He spun his weapon away and tried to hit her again, only for the flame-user to block with a small square of blue flames.

' _She has the control necessary to make shields of that fire of_ any _size? Not just the large walls and curtains that she's used before now?_ ' he though in shock before his naturally analytical mind recovered. He drew back the melting remains of his weapon before discarding it and drawing his backup halberd.

His Tinker specialty in miniaturisation and efficiency was seen by many as lacklustre and weak, but he had made it work for him, constructing various halberds with many different pieces of tech crammed into them. He never went anywhere without at least two of them and this one had a useful gadget in it.

Triggering it, he smirked as it extended to its full length before firing several grenades at Pyroclasm that exploded, releasing containment foam that covered her. It wasn't just any containment foam either; it was a special type designed to be used against pyrokinetics like Burnscar, except no one ever had any when the Slaughterhouse Nine came calling.

Initially, it seemed to work fine, dousing her flames and entrapping her before solidifying. It was then that things turned sour. Blue flames exploded from the few locations that were uncovered and attacked the foam covering Pyroclasm hungrily. In less than thirty seconds, the fiery Cape was staggering to her feet again. Her body language indicated exhaustion, so evidently burning so many flame resistant materials in such a short timeframe was taxing on her reserves.

"Surrender. You are obviously on your last legs." He commanded.

"Only because I'm not using the flames that could kill you, fool!" Pyroclasm hissed before sending a wall of orange flames at him. He dodged to the right and fell from the building, crashing down onto the ground. His armour's medical monitoring system bluntly informed him that he had several fractured ribs from landing awkwardly.

Overhead, he saw Pyroclasm swooping away on wings of red fire and cursed. She had slipped the noose.

 _Later_

 _Armsmaster's Workshop, The Rig_

"What the _hell_ , Colin?!" Miss Militia shouted as she stormed into the room, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Hannah, if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of repairing my halberd." Colin said shortly. He was still armoured up and was in the middle of assessing exactly how much of his first halberd he could salvage.

"Oh no you don't." the former child soldier growled, "You _unilaterally attacked_ an independent Cape without provocation! What the hell were you _thinking_?!"

"That she had just fought off Oni Lee and Lung at the same time." The Tinker said shortly, "Someone of that power, left alone to do as she pleases? She'll either get killed inside of six months or turn villain. She _has_ to be brought into the Wards."

"So you attack her?!" Miss Militia facepalmed, "Colin, you really are an idiot. If anything, you've just alienated her completely and made her suspicious and hostile towards the Protectorate. I wouldn't be surprised if she _did_ turn villain or vigilante after this, because she likely thinks she has no other choice!"

Colin set down his ruined halberd and turned towards his second-in-command. "What do you mean?"

"Regardless of the reason, she attacked a Protectorate Cape, which automatically puts out a warrant for her arrest." The female Cape said tiredly, "It was issued the instant you reported that you clashed with her. Until we get the warrant cancelled, which Director Piggot will be none too eager to do, she will continue to accrue resentment towards us and she might decide to become a villain out of spite. When the Director finds out why the Empire or the Merchants have a new Cape or if she strikes out alone, it will be on _your_ head, Colin."

Turning, she left him behind with that dire warning.

 _Several Days Later_

 _Somer's Rock Public House_

"We are all here," Coil said, "to discuss our mutual…problem."

The Cape wore a black skin-tight bodysuit with a coiling snake stencil wrapped around him and was a thin man. The bodysuit he wore allowed everyone who saw him to see his ribs and joints clearly.

Around him inside the pub were representatives of all of Brockton Bay's superpowered criminals. Kaiser of the Empire 88 with Hookwolf and Othala, Grue of the Undersiders with Tattletale and Regent, Skidmark of the Archer's Bridge Merchants with Squealer and Über and L33t, the Game Capes.

"All of us," the man continued, "have been attacked in one way or another by the new vigilante Cape, Pyroclasm. My men were ambushed and strung up by their ankles, naked, outside the BBPD Police Building; with all of the…items…I had sent them to retrieve at their feet."

Kaiser slammed his fist on the desk. "Victor and Alabaster were captured by this Pyroclasm and turned over to the PRT." He said reluctantly, "They will be released by my discretion, but it the principle of the action that infuriates me."

"The cum-guzzling whore trashed our labs!" Skidmark growled, "And sent Mush to hospital with burns!"

The rest looked at Grue, who shrugged. "Pyroclasm has ignored us completely." He said, "We knocked off a jewellery store right in front of her and she just watched and left when we did."

"She hasn't interfered with us either." Über added, "Looks like she's keeping to the big gangs for some reason."

"And of course, the defeat of Lung, Oni Lee and Bakuda is well known to us all." Coil stated as he folded his hands before him, "The fact that she conquered the Dragon of Kyushu when he was backed up by Oni Lee is troubling. Even more so is the fact that she walked into Bakuda's workshop and emerged unharmed from all of the explosions that were heard, especially the last that levelled the place, dragging Bakuda and Oni Lee behind her."

"She is bad for business." Kaiser said delicately, "I say we combine forces, track her down and beat her into the ground."

"I would agree to that." Coil nodded, "Grue? Skidmark? Über?"

The youngest leader there shook his head. "The Undersiders aren't on Pyroclasm's radar and I'd like to keep it that way. We'll lend you Tattletale's observations and insights, but we won't take overt action against her and risk drawing her wrath."

"Understandable." Coil nodded, but was irked. Tattletale had been pulling away from him for a while now, and he had no idea why or how. He had tortured her in one timeline and she had revealed nothing, refusing to speak right up until her mind had broken, which had never happened before.

What was more irksome was Pyroclasm. In the case of his men being captured, he had sent them out in both timelines, but in each, they had taken a different route and taken a different method of operation to acquiring the items they had been sent to retrieve for him. And yet, in both timelines, Pyroclasm had shown up at almost _exactly_ the same time, ambushing his men and leaving him powerless to aid using his power. He had just flipped a coin regarding which timeline to close.

"L33t and I are with the Undersiders on this one." The skill-learning cape said with a sombre voice, "She hasn't trashed one of our videos and even sent us a subscription. No way do we want to make her pissed with us. L33t could make some tech for you, but that's just about all we can offer."

"Tch. Useless fudgepackers!" Skidmark sneered, "The Merchants're in."

"Excellent. I have already hired the services of Faultline's Crew, so we can plan our operations accordingly." Coil said. You could see the smirk on his face through his bodysuit.

"Pyroclasm is going to learn that she is playing with something greater than fire here."

 **You know, the vast majority of the reason I made this ficlet collection an M-rated fic was because of Skidmark's potty-mouth. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen someone swear that much without having Tourette's Syndrome. As I said in the beginning, this collection is free for** **anyone** **to adopt** **any** **story if they want to. Just PM me and I'll OK it.**


	38. Time and Time Again Chapter 2

**Time and Time Again Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 8)**

"Fucking Bakuda!" Paradox growled as she spotted the conscripted civilians walking down the street below them with guns in hand.

"Calmly does it, Paradox." Grue said soothingly, "Tats, what can you tell us?"

"L33t's information was spot on." The purple and black clad Cape said as she peered through binoculars, "Those people have bombs implanted in them, at the back of their heads most likely. She can likely detonate them remotely somehow, although I have no idea what the mechanism is."

Paradox growled again. After getting back from the bank job, Bitch had taken her dogs for a walk and the rest of the Undersiders had gone out to celebrate. When they returned, they discovered that their money, stolen from the Brockton Bay Central Bank, had been stolen.

Bitch had been the first suspect, but it was quickly revealed to actually be Bakuda, the newest Cape of the ABB, who had orchestrated it, with the help of Über and L33t. Beating the Gamer Capes hadn't taken long, but Bakuda had been throwing bombs all over the place like no one's business and it had taken a lot of effort to make the insane woman retreat.

Now there were bombs going off left and right across Brockton Bay, including one that had rocked the Undersiders' HQ, the team of villains had headed out to fight the rampaging ABB. Über and L33t had thanked them for stopping Bakuda from blowing them up by supplying information about the conscripts in the ABB, including the method Bakuda was using to control them.

"What about the rest of L33t's info?" Paradox pressed.

Tattletale scowled. "Although I can glimpse the bombs, I can't get any solid information about them from this distance. I can't tell if he was telling the truth."

The last piece of information L33t had given them was that Bakuda had implanted some form of reading the status of the people her bombs are implanted within, something like a heart monitor. Apparently the heartbeat of someone who is unconscious is very different of someone who is conscious. If he wasn't talking out of his ass, this left the Undersiders very few options, as if they attacked a group of conscripts, it would let the Bomb Tinker surround them with ABB goons before they knew it.

"Shit." Tattletale cursed, "Some of those people are wearing ABB colours. Actual members of the ABB have bombs implanted too. Is Bakuda insane? Is she _trying_ to get a kill order? When Lung hears about this, he's going to kill her."

"Ah, _yeah_. I think doing all this is pretty conclusive evidence that Bakuda is bat-shit insane." Regent jeered, "So what's the plan, fearless leader?"

Grue grunted in frustration. "There's nothing we _can_ do without the crazy bitch on our asses."

"I could take down a squad and lure her out." Paradox offered.

"No way." The leader of the Undersiders said instantly before he looked at a pensive Tattletale, "Tats, I don't like the look on your face there…"

"Paradox is the only one of us who could take down a squad alone and possibly survive the counterattack." The Thinker said with a sigh, "Not even Bitch and her dogs could hold off the number of ABB that are running around out there. You would be a close second with your darkness, Grue, but Paradox is our best bet for this plan."

Bitch growled at the perceived slight to her position in the pack, but subsided.

"Is this seriously the best plan we have?" Grue complained, "No offense, Paradox, but you have only been an official Cape for a week or so."

"None taken." The time user replied with a shrug, "I'm still the best bet to take care of this problem. I have plenty of time on my side."

"Enough with the time jokes already!" Regent groaned. He had suffered under them every time he used his power to try and make her spill her drinks, only to find time slowed down around the spill so she could scoop it up 'in plenty of time' as she said.

"It's only been a while since you fully recovered your energy." Grue said to Paradox, "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"I think so." The girl replied, "If it's just against ordinary people, then I should be able to win without using a lot of power."

This was the main demerit for Paradox's time manipulation abilities; the energy requirements. Small scale time manipulation was easy, but on a large scale, it was quite demanding. The fight against the Wards and Glory Girl had been a moderate expenditure of her abilities and had left her breathless for about five minutes afterwards. Some powers were like muscles; exercising them increased their power and endurance. Paradox's power was one such example. When she first Triggered, she could barely slow things down without feeling tired. Now she had fought off Glory Girl, one of the strongest Brutes in Brockton Bay without much trouble.

"OK then…if you're certain…" Grue said uneasily, "We'll keep an eye out for Bakuda while you fight. Be careful though."

"Roger-dodger." Paradox mock-saluted him.

"You've been hanging out with Regent too much." the leader of the Undersiders sighed.

Tattletale just nodded reassuringly. She could see that Paradox was deliberately acting irrelevant to reassure Grue. Regent, thanks to his bastard of a father, had all the empathy skills of a soggy teabag, so wasn't worried. Bitch, thanks to her canine mind-set, was equally as indifferent. As for Tattletale herself, her Thinker power made such strong fronts useless.

"Here I go!" Paradox headed down the fire escape on one side of the building, staff in hand. She was nervous as hell, but she would stop this lunatic from destroying her home. She was just relieved that no bombs had gone off in the area that the Dockworker's Association had its main offices and compound as of yet.

 _With the ABB Conscripts_

Martha Lu uncomfortably hefted the gun in her arms. She was terrified of the bomb she had in the back of her head, but frequently sent prayers to any deity that could hear her for that bitch Bakuda to get blown up by her own bombs, even if Martha was killed by the bitch's Deadman's Switch.

"Look!" a member of the ABB pointed at the approaching figure that had appeared out of nowhere.

' _Silver and blue costume…staff in hand…split clock face insignia…_ ' Martha realised, "Crap! It's Paradox of the Undersiders!"

"Kill her!" the ABB goon in front roared and, reluctantly, Martha pointed the handgun she held at the Cape and pulled the trigger. The rest of the squad followed suit, but then Paradox just _blurred_ and the bullets were abruptly sent flying into the walls of the buildings and the tarmac of the street. The next instant, she was in front of the gaping ABB lead man and slamming her staff into his gut, doubling him over.

"How the fuck?!"

"Stop her!"

It was all pointless though. No matter what they tried, Paradox just moved in a blur her staff lashing out and knocking people unconscious left and right. It was a completely one-sided fight from start to finish.

As Martha was also knocked out, she silently hoped that she wouldn't be killed by that damn bomb in the back of her head.

 _With Paradox_

The time manipulating Cape gazed at her staff with a frown. Once again, it was shattered and splintered. Really, she was going to have to make a new one from metal once this was over.

Concentrating, she wound the time back on it, restoring the staff to pristine condition for what had to be the third time during the fight. Spinning it around like a cheerleading baton, Paradox looked around and spotted a few more groups of ABB advancing towards her. Most of them were the ABB's conscripts, but a few were actually ABB themselves.

' _Although, given how she's implanted her own men with bombs, I think you can safely say that the ABB are_ all _conscripts by this point._ ' Paradox thought privately. How Bakuda had managed to do this in the week since Lung had been captured was a puzzle. And why had Oni Lee, Lung's second in command, not done anything to stop her? Then again, Oni Lee was infamous as a sociopath of very little intelligence, so maybe he didn't care about the ABB without Lung telling him to?

Spinning her staff again, Paradox accelerated her own time once again, which meant that the world around her slowed to a crawl. For whatever reason, there was no strain for her body whenever she did this. Not that she was complaining.

Speeding towards the closest group of ABB, she smacked each one three times with her staff; once in the solar plexus to knock the breath from them, once on the back of the knees to make them fall to the ground and once on the jaw to knock them out. This worked most of the time. She didn't dare hit them on the back of their necks because of the bombs, so the jaw, with all its nerve clusters, was the next best thing. At the very least, they would be insensate for a while, which was all Paradox really needed.

 _With the Undersiders_

"Whew! She is really kicking ass!" Regent whistled. He was watching through the binoculars as Paradox went through the conscripted ABB like a scythe through wheat.

"I am so glad we were able to convince her to join up with us." Grue muttered.

Tattletale, busy scanning the approaches to the street where Paradox was fighting, just grunted in affirmation. She knew that Paradox, Taylor Hebert, had been uncaring of her life when she fought Lung. Someone, she didn't know who, had driven her into practically suicidal tendencies. Fighting against Lung to save children she had never met? Leaving aside the misunderstanding (he had been talking about the Undersiders), fighting against the Dragon of Kyushu alone was practically begging for death, time powers or no.

She had lost her brother to suicidal tendencies. She was not going to let someone else kill themselves if she could help it now that she had powers.

"There's Bakuda!" she hissed as she spotted the ABB Tinker. Wearing a gasmask and wearing bandoliers full of grenades over casual clothes, the Tinker was armed for war, especially with the drum-mag grenade launcher she was toting in one hand.

"Whoa! Where the hell'd she get that grenade launcher?" Regent asked as he trained the binoculars on her.

"Don't know, don't care." Grue said, "Bitch, get your dogs ready. We have a bomber bitch to take care of."

The canine controller nodded and made the three dogs she had with her grow to their usual rhino size. Mounting up, the Undersiders headed to face Bakuda.

 _Paradox_

As the last group of grunts fell, the time controller was panting with the effort. Manipulating her own internal time was a relatively easy thing to do, but repeating it multiple times consecutively was still tiring.

"Well, well, well." A familiar voice drawled, "Looks like the new Undersider is better than I thought."

"Bakuda." Paradox spat as she turned to face the Tinker, "Why have you done all this?"

"'In order to free Lung'…is what I told that simpleton Oni Lee." Bakuda replied, a gloating tone in her voice, "I'll kill them both and take the ABB for my own! I'll destroy the Merchants and the Empire and even the Protectorate! This city will be MINE!"

"Delusional much?" Paradox scoffed.

"Say what?!"

"Hate to tell you this, but you aren't special or unique. You aren't someone who stands out." She told the angry bomb Tinker, "Even if you do somehow miraculously manage to kill Lung and Oni Lee, which is so unlikely that no bookie would give you odds on it, your little bombs wouldn't be able to do jack shit to the Empire. The Merchants…meh. Who cares about them?"

"I'm going to make you regret being born, you little bitch!" Bakuda howled and raised her grenade launcher. She fired four bombs at Paradox who used the trump card she rarely used.

Wide area time stop.

Everything and everyone inside of twenty metres froze in time. The grenades were stuck in mid-air, Bakuda still had the grenade launcher pointed at Paradox and even the sound of the wind had stopped.

Walking forward, Paradox casually touched each of the grenades and activated her aging power. Once the time freeze was undone, they would be reduced to piles of rust. She grabbed the main part of the grenade launcher as well before ending the time freeze.

Bakuda blinked behind her mask as the grenades she launched fell apart in a shower of rust. Then she noticed that the Cape she had been firing at was right next to her and grabbing her weapon. Swearing in Korean, broken Mandarin and Cantonese, she ripped her grenade launcher from Paradox's grip and retreated a couple of steps before pulling the trigger.

Click-click.

"What the…?!" she looked down at her weapon only to gape as it rapidly turned rusted and useless.

"You…you did this!" Bakuda screamed as she threw her now useless weapon to one side.

"Correct. Do tell, Bakuda…how many time manipulators have there been?" Paradox asked rhetorically, "I can only think of two; Clockblocker and Grey Boy. Well, now there's a third; me."

At that, Bakuda was smart enough to see what Paradox was implying; that she was special, that she was unique in the Cape world, compared to Bakuda, a mere Tinker.

Screaming her fury, she grabbed for her bandoliers, aiming to pull out a grenade and blow the impudent Cape to bit or freeze her in ice or transmogrify her into glass or something! Bakuda wasn't really picky about what happened to Paradox as long as it was death inducing.

What she found instead was a whole slew of rusty fragments and dust. Every single one of her grenades had been rusted into scrap. Not caring about this was impossible for Bakuda, so her rage peaked and she started forward with the intent to tear Paradox apart with her bare hands.

WHAM! WHACK!

The Tinker almost threw up as a powerful blow struck her in the solar plexus, with a second following up in her gut moments later.

"What? Is that all the mighty Bakuda has?" Paradox taunted.

"Y-You…!" Bakuda seethed. By this point, any thought of using weapons had abandoned her mind. She staggered to her feet once again and leapt at Paradox, arms outstretched and hands clawing at her.

WHACK!

A single strike to the back of the head sends the Tinker crashing to the ground, landing headfirst and breaking her nose. Rolling around, clutching her face and screaming in pain, Bakuda made for a very pitiful sight.

"Jeez, I didn't expect you to deal with her yourself." A female voice called in amusement. Tattletale came riding in on Judas, with Bitch and Grue atop Angelica and Regent on Brutus.

"S-Sorry for spoiling your f-fun." Paradox wheezed. Using her powers so much was exhausting. If she took a break between each use of her power, it wasn't so bad, but quick consecutive use was very draining.

The Thinker of the Undersiders slid off the monstrosity of a dog and scanned Bakuda for a moment. "She has an unusual bulge on her left foot. Toe rings as a detonation device? Sneaky, but overly elaborate. Regent, screw with her eyes. The goggles she has in her mask allow her to select which bombs to detonate using eye movement."

As Regent stared at Bakuda and Grue removed the toe rings, Tattletale was able to catch Paradox before she fell down.

"Reckless girl…" the Thinker muttered, "Learn to care for yourself more!"

"S-Sorry…Tats." The time user said in a slightly slurred voice. She had really overdone it this time.

"What are we going to do with you?" Tattletale sighed before looking over at Bakuda, who was being bound and the lower part of her mask ripped off so she could be gagged.

"So…who says we should drop this bitch off at the PRT Building?" she asked with a grin.

 **So yeah. This is a powerful power set that Taylor has. The drawback, as stated above, is that it is very energy draining. At least the large-scale uses are, as are the quick and consecutive uses. This can be mitigated as she gets used to it, but extensive uses of her power will always be draining.**


	39. Transmutation Chapter 2

**Transmutation Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 21)**

"Lung has been defeated. I want to know by who."

The one speaking was the newest recruit of the ABB, a Cape by the name of Tsurugi. He wore crimson samurai-style armour and a sneering Oni-like Menpō over his face. Sheathed at various points around his body were katana, wakizashi and Nodachi.

"Tsurugi-sama, all we have been able to discover is that Lung-sama went out to punish the Undersiders for their transgressions against him." a member of the ABB reported meekly, "There should have been no way that those _gaijin kodomo_ could have defeated him."

"Meaning it was outside interference." Tsurugi growled, "According to the newspapers, Armsmaster arrested Lung. He is a Tinker, so it isn't an unprecedented thought that he might have invented a device that could accomplish this feat."

"H-Hai…except that…well, look at these photos that our men took of the scene." The ABB grunt said, pulling out a sheaf of Polaroid photos. Tsurugi took them and scanned them.

"What in the name of Amaterasu…?" he muttered. The ground had been badly burned in several locations, especially in a ring around where several claw marks were evident. What the hell was hot enough to melt concrete? Additionally, there were two locations where the ground had been…altered. One where a fist just popped out of the ground and one where a large wall had appeared seemingly from the ground itself.

"So…it was a new Parahuman who intervened." The warrior Cape mused, "Has Kaiser announced a new Cape in his Empire?"

"No sir." The grunt shook his head, "And no one in their right mind would join the Merchants."

"Meaning that unless Faultline, Coil or Über and L33t got some new recruits, we have at least one new Cape in town, perhaps two." Tsurugi concluded, "One that has some form of pyrokinesis and another that can manipulate concrete."

It made sense. To have a single Cape that had both of those powers was extremely rare; just about the only person Tsurugi could think of off the top of his head was Eidolon. The other Trumps that he knew about could only interfere with other people's powers, like Hatchet Face, or spontaneously shift to a single random power every day, like Rubik. No, two Capes were the most logical answer.

The question was, were the Capes in question heroes or villains? Given that the Undersiders seemed to have gotten away scot free, it was to be assumed for the moment that they were villains. There again, fighting Lung was not easy, so maybe the Undersiders had retreated when the new Capes attacked?

Dismissing his concerns, Tsurugi issued his orders. "I want a plan in the works to liberate Lung, ASAP. I also want ears to the ground; information about any fresh Triggers or new Capes moving into town is a priority."

"As you wish…." The grunt bowed, "Also, our men have returned from the mission to acquire that new Tinker."

"Oh?"

"It…it would seem that the Tinker was mentally unstable and blew herself up." The man said nervously, "The idea of submitting to anyone, even Lung-sama, was abhorrent to her."

"Tch. A shame. A bomb Tinker would have been useful, but if she was so mentally unstable as to dishonourably _jisatsu_ , then she was of no use to us." Tsurugi dismissed, "I shall inform Lung-sama of this and explain it in such a way as to stop him from killing the men. We can ill afford to lose manpower now that the Empire has made some troubling moves. Where is Oni Lee?"

"On patrol near the Empire Territory, Tsurugi-sama."

"Get him back here and double the regular patrols." Tsurugi ordered, "We have plans to make."

 _Undersiders HQ_

"So it's decided then? We'll invite Alchemist to join the Undersiders." Brian said with a nod.

"Rachel, I do _not_ want you pulling your usual bullshit with her." Lisa said, scowling at the canine controller, "She fought and defeated Lung for Christ sake; she could shred you and your dogs to pieces, easily."

Bitch just sneered at Lisa and went back to stroking Angelica's head.

"Alec?" the leader of their group asked.

"So long as she isn't a douche, I don't give a damn." The lazy boy replied as he sniped at someone on _Call of Duty_ , "Fuck yeah! Have a headshot, asshole!"

Rolling his eyes at the inherent indifference that his teammate was displaying, Brian looked at Lis, who shrugged and said, "I want her in. Once I get used to having her around, maybe my Thinker won't go nuts every time I see her."

That had been Lisa's only negative point about recruiting Alchemist; the fact that her Thinker had gone nuts when trying to decipher her power. The migraine had left her head throbbing for six hours after Alchemist had left them to go home after they treated her to pizza.

"Cool. What do you think the ABB are up to?" Brian asked.

"Likely Tsurugi has taken over temporarily." Lisa said with a shrug, "Oni Lee is too stupid to lead anything."

This was something of a concern. Tsurugi was the latest Cape to join the ABB and had the power to impart linear motion into his sword strikes. In other words, each of his cuts was as strong as a bullet fired from a railgun. Additionally, he could project those sword strikes, similar to but differently from Jack Slash. Combined with his calm and cunning mind, he was a serious threat.

"Makes sense. It just means we need Alchemist on side sooner rather than later." Brian nodded, "Can you track her down?"

"Nope. I'll leave a message on PHO for her though. She'll answer it." The blond replied.

"Will she even have a PHO account?" Alec asked as he chucked a grenade in _CoD_.

"Almost 95% of people have a PHO account just to keep up with the rumours and official PRT announcements." Lisa replied easily, "I'd be more surprised if she _didn't_ have a PHO account."

"OK. Whatever." The Master Cape shrugged at got back to killing pixels.

"I'm taking my dogs for a walk." Rachel said abruptly and stormed out, taking Brutus, Judas and Angelica with her.

Once the front door slammed shut, Brian turned back to Lisa. "So is she going to behave herself or not?"

"Not." Lisa replied frankly, "The whole 'pack hierarchy' thing is a big thing with her. She needs to see people prove themselves to her, and Rachel _was_ unconscious when Alchemist beat Lung."

"It's just….I _really_ don't want another incident like Spitfire. Especially since Alchemist is _way_ more powerful than Spitfire." Brian sighed, "If Rach isn't careful, Alchemist will freeze her or barbeque her or something."

The only other girl in the Undersiders shook her head. "I got a good read on her personality while she was with us; she may not have a good grasp on the Unwritten Rules, but she will not cross the line into killing someone until and unless they do something that crosses a line with her or they're a member of the Slaughterhouse 9. She'll probably just wrap Rachel up in concrete or something."

"Well that's something at least." The leader of the Undersiders said in relief, "Make sure you tell her in advance what Bitch is likely to pull. The last thing we want is for her to think we're bullying or hazing her deliberately."

"Got it." Lisa nodded, "I'll head off and do that now."

 **So, a rather peaceful chapter here, with some world-building. Most notable difference? Bakuda blowing herself up. Let's face it, she was nuts originally, so having her suicide rather than let Lung control her is a reasonable stretch, if you think about it.**


	40. Requiesce in pace Chapter 2

**Requiesce in pace Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 9)**

 _Winslow High School_

Taylor sighed as she left her hellhole of a school after another day of put-downs and all-but torture by the kids inside it. It really shouldn't surprise her that people could be so cruel, but it did. Emma, Madison and Sophia were the ringleaders, but everyone was a party to her suffering, whether by action or inaction.

Any lesser person would, after receiving Parahuman powers as a result of said torment, lash out and go Carrie on the school. Taylor, however, was a stronger person than that. Not physically, but mentally. High School, even without being alone against the entire teaching staff and student body, was hell, or purgatory to be exact. Meaning it had an end.

What happened in highschool, exams and tests to one side, was completely irrelevant. Your social ranking in highschool didn't mean jack shit in the real world, which was something Madison, and the other three didn't seem to get. Well, maybe Sophia did. It would explain why she went after Taylor so much; she knew that Taylor's intelligence would get her a good job, better than any she could get, and was acting out of anger and jealousy.

At least, that's what made sense to Taylor. She had no clue as to what the hell the track star was thinking in that head of hers, and wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Her journey back to her home was quiet and undisturbed, thankfully. Even the Bitch Trio didn't dare pull crap in actual public locations. Getting off the bus and heading to her house was…sad. Her Dad wasn't home, as always. He had thrown himself into his work since her Mom died. If he was home one day out of seven, it was a miracle.

Today too was much the same. The house had an air of neglect about it and Taylor had to sigh sadly at how her Dad had been so broken by the death of her mother. He had loved her to pieces and look what happened when she had died. It was making her leery of ever falling in love with someone herself.

Thankfully, there was an upside to her Dad being a ghost in the house; she could go out and Tinker to her heart's content. It had been a surprise, when she realised that she was a Tinker. She had a high amount of physical ability, plus the weird sight mode that sprung up every now and again that greyed the world out and highlighted most people in white. To have Tinker abilities on top of that was too much of a cheat. Still, she really wished that she hadn't had to go through The Locker in order to get them though.

Finishing her homework as fast as possible, Taylor changed into nondescript clothes and headed out to her base. It was an abandoned building that had formerly been a block of apartments. There had been a series of murders there done by a Parahuman who had gone insane, after which the place was abandoned once the Parahuman, Blood Tear, had been caught and sent to the Birdcage. Now it was Taylor's base.

Surprisingly, the people who had moved out had pretty much abandoned all of their electronics and furniture, which had been a big help when she had needed raw materials. It had taken a while to get her workshop set up, but now the place was so heavily defended, you would need power armour to get to it if you weren't authorised to be there.

Entering through the crumbling hole in the wall that had been blown in the building during one of Über and L33t's screw ups, Taylor went to a part of the wall that had a lot of graffiti sprayed on it and pressed several parts of it in order. With a small click, a doorway opened up for her.

Sliding inside and closing it behind her, Taylor took in her workshop. The fabric extruder was there on one side that let her cut the special Tinkertech cloth into her outfits. It was slightly more bullet and knife resistant than Kevlar, was both fireproof and electric proof and dispersed any physical impacts across its entire surface. As it was cloth, it weighed far less than any metal armour and didn't impede her movements. All in all, it kicked ass.

"Time to move." She muttered as she took in the dressmaker's dummy that had her costume atop it. It still amazed her that Lung hadn't so much as scratched her the previous day. Was he overrated or something?

Stripping completely naked, Taylor pulled on the skin-tight black bodysuit that acted as a final layer of armour and underwear at once. Next were the trousers and shirt. For some reason, they were taken right out of the renaissance period, but whatever. The belt was attached next, with three pouches full of bullets, grenades and smoke bombs, hand-ties and some weak Tinkertech medicine.

The medicine hadn't exactly been intentional; she had made it when trying to figure out how to make the medicine that had rendered Lung helpless before her. It acted as an analgesic and increased the power of her regeneration factor by a small amount, but was useless for anyone else.

Next to be worn was her large bandolier of throwing knives. She had fourteen on her and she always retrieved the blades if she used them. On her left shoulder, she placed some armour, which also had a small half-cape that concealed her left arm.

On her feet, she pulled on some thick leather boots with metal sewn in at key locations. Flexible and tough, they were perfect for her fast and flexible fighting style.

The sword she hooked onto her belt was next, then the parrying blade at her lower back, then the crossbow over her shoulder and then the short sword at the small of her back. Each was placed with a confidence born of many hours of repetition.

The two steel bracers were the next to be placed on her. The left one merely had a second hidden blade and a poison blade concealed within it, whereas the right bracer had a hidden blade, a gun, a concealed grapple line, a hooked blade and even a one-shot dart gun concealed inside of it. Most of these hadn't been useful against Lung the previous day, but he was a special case.

The last thing to be placed on Taylor was the black aquiline mask that concealed her identity. Although it looked plain, it had a rebreather, several eye filters, such as infrared and ultraviolet, built into the lenses and it was even bulletproof.

The final touch was tying her hair into a ponytail and tucking it into the hood that she pulled up; casting a shadow over her face and making it look more menacing. Although she could understand why the Protectorate advocated for its members to show at least part of their face to the public, she could care less about it. The world didn't want Taylor Hebert, so they wouldn't get any part of her as Altaïr.

Before leaving her hideout, she whispered the words that had come to her the instant she had conceived of this costume.

"Everything is permitted; nothing is forbidden."

 _Conference Room, PRT Building_

"So, just to be clear, Armsmaster…" Emily Piggot said slowly, "Despite this…Altaïr deliberately warning you _not_ to inject Lung with further drugs, you ignored her and now Lung is in need of Panacea's help in purging aforementioned drug from his system because it is killing him. Do I have it right?"

"Yes." The Protectorate leader replied gruffly.

No shame, no sign of being in the least bit apologetic for his actions coloured his voice.

"…as of right now, Armsmaster, you are forbidden from Tinkering for a week." Piggot said flatly, "Take this time to ruminate on the common sense of not injecting drugs into someone containing an unknown cocktail of drugs present inside them already."

"…yes ma'am." The Tinker replied after a moment.

"Now, this Altaïr character…details." Piggot said intently.

"I suspect she is a Tinker." Armsmaster replied confidently, "She carried numerous weapons on her person, not limited to a sword, a crossbow and several throwing knives. In addition, she used a hidden grapple line in one of her gauntlets to leave the scene."

"And this explains how she defeated Lung…how?" the Director asked.

"She also stated that she came up with the suppressant drug used on Lung herself, further adding support to my theory." The Tinker replied, "She used the crossbow to fire these into him."

He pulled a bag full of arrowheads out of his armour and laid them on the table.

"These arrowheads were designed as a delivery system for whatever drug Lung was injected with. Panacea might be able to tell us more about it when she comes in, but I would assume it will be some sort of regeneration inhibitor, with additional effects if the reaction to the Counter-Lung Inhibitor Drug is any indication."

"So…Tinker 3, would you say?" Piggot mused.

"It depends on what her specialty is, but I'd say so." Armsmaster agreed, "She's likely a combat Tinker."

"As in a Tinker who also has sub-powers that are useful in combat or as in a Tinker who can modify their equipment mid-combat?" Piggot asked.

"The former."

"OK then. Any other notes about this Cape?"

"She is uncaring about credit and is dismissive of the Protectorate and the PRT." Armsmaster stated, "I would estimate her age to be somewhere in mid to late teens based on her mannerisms and apparent height. She is likely to be resistant to the idea of joining the Wards based on all available data."

"Irrelevant. By attacking Lung, she's gone over the legal limit of what a vigilante is permitted to do." Piggot said briskly, "Any other Parahuman would have died from the wounds she inflicted on him. The Protectorate is instructed to locate and detain Altaïr until we can persuade her to join the Wards."

"Understood, Director." Armsmaster said as he stood up and headed out of the meeting.

"…Capes." Piggot sneered in disgust. She hated Parahumans, had done since the Ellisburg debacle. Were they necessary? When the enemies were the Endbringers, yes. But she couldn't wait for the day that the Endbringers were removed from the equation. THEN she'd gladly do away with the ridiculous Unwritten Rules that were set up and have them all arrested if they committed crimes, whether they were in costume or not!

Wincing in pain, she recalled that she had to go on dialysis in a few minutes. Damn Armsmaster and his incompetent social indifference/inability.

Heaving herself back to her feet, she hobbled out of the conference room and towards her office.

 **Not my best work, but some background on the happenings of this AU. Rather than becoming depressed, or rather because of it, Danny becomes a workaholic and basically ignores Taylor as she is a reminder of Annette and is thus too painful to see for him. Piggot, in most of my fics, is a racist towards Capes. Let's face it, she is. Not without good reason, true, but racist is racist.**


	41. Shakedown

I drifted in a sea of white.

Memory escaped me and thoughts came and went and I had no concept of time. I simply…existed.

Then the image of the largest man I had ever seen loomed over me. He was over two and a half times the height of the average human male and was heavily muscled, scars crisscrossing his chest and shoulders. A long white coat, similar to those worn by members of the navy, hung from his shoulders like a cape, while he wore cream trousers with a black sash around his waist and black boots completed his attire. In one massive hand, he wielded an enormous polearm with an equally large blade on its tip.

His face was rugged and stern, with an enormous white crescent-moon moustache and yellow hawk-like eyes. Atop his head he wore a black bandana.

"So, you're the one who called out to me." He said in a deep voice filled with age and absolute commanding presence. Clearly he was a leader.

I tried to speak, but my body wasn't listening to me.

"You did." The man said, "I am dead and my spirit was passing on, when I heard a cry for aid, for someone, anyone, to help you. It was a cry that echoed across worlds, child. I was merely the one to take heed of it."

A frown etched itself onto his brow. "I know what had been done to you and, had it been one of my sons, one of my crew, who had suffered such indignities and injuries, the perpetrators would not live to see the next sunrise."

He chuckled and a warm smile came across his face. "I may not be able to aid you directly, but I can grant you power. That louse Teach thought he stole all of my power when I died, but I kept some of it with me. It is this I now give to you, if you wish me to."

"P…power…?" I croaked, "Wh…why…?"

"I have gotten a grasp of your character, being here." The man gestured with his free hand, "Had you been born in my world, I would have gladly had you as one of my crew, as my daughter. I am not using the little remaining power I have; I merely kept it to spite Teach. It is yours should you wish it. I would only ask that you use it to be free, child."

"F-Free…want to be free…" I said, "Please….I…accept…!"

"Gura-hahahaha!" the man guffawed, "Then take the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit! Take the last of the power of the Great Pirate Edward Newgate, of Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors! Bow to no-one and forge your own path, Taylor Hebert!"

I felt a wave of strength slam into me, infusing itself into my very being. It was as if I was a container being filled up with hot water and I was already approaching full capacity! And this was only a fraction of his power?!

Much to my relief, the flow of power tapered off and ceased a minute or two later, allowing my body, which had arced in pain, to sag back down in release.

Whitebeard spun the weapon he wielded in his hand for a moment before placing it next to my body and placed my hand over its shaft.

"I think you'll get more use out of this than I will." He said with a smile. I returned the smile even as the darkness closed in on me.

 _Three Days Later_

 _Ward, Brockton Bay General Hospital_

Danny Hebert looked down at the comatose figure of his daughter on the bed and wanted to hurt someone. Taylor had been trapped in her locker, filled with used tampons and other assorted toxic waste, for over seven hours. The fact she had been freed could be attributed to pure luck, when the janitor had forgotten something and had heard her screaming for help.

' _He should have found her sooner! Hell, someone,_ anyone _, should have found her sooner!_ ' he raged to himself.

"Danny, how is she?" Kurt asked as he strode into the room and then cursed as he caught sight of his goddaughter. Taylor was pale and had several wounds on her chest and hands from her vain attempts to break out of the locker.

"She's in a coma, Kurt." Danny replied, a lump in his throat, "The doctors are thinking about calling Panacea in because they think a virus has affected her."

"Shit! It's that serious?" his friend asked in dismay before frowning, "Wait, I thought Panacea couldn't affect brains with her power?"

"She can't, but she can still see them, monitor them." Danny replied with an exhausted sigh. He hadn't slept in the last couple of days. "Hopefully she can tell us why Taylor won't wake up."

Kurt looked at his friend in concern. He had pushed himself too hard to remain awake and if he kept on like this, his health would suffer.

"Danny, I think you should get some sleep." he said softly, "You know that Taylor wouldn't want to see you like this."

"I…Yeah, you're right." Danny sagged in his chair, "Can you get one of the guys to drive me home? I…think I'd crash if I tried to drive myself."

"Already got someone waiting." Kurt said, "I'll stay with Taylor and if anything changes, I'll send someone to kick you out of bed, ok?"

That was a lie. He'd send someone to wake him up only if someone tried to attack Taylor. Danny always did push himself too hard, especially since Annette died. This was likely to do the same.

As a member of the Dockworker's Union led Danny out, Kurt settled in to watch over his goddaughter.

 _Days Later_

 _Abandoned Warehouse_

CRACK!

I gaped as my punch literally cracked the air. Then my jaw dropped even further as a wave of force erupted from where my fist was and slammed into the wall, destroying it.

Hastily beating feet out of there, I moved to the other side of the docks before continuing my practice. The powers that I had been given by Edward Newgate…by Whitebeard…were very strong. The source, which he had called the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, was aptly named. I had the ability to use vibrations or shockwaves to a frightening extent. My experiments were still in the early days, but I seem to be able to control the point of impact, and thus the epicentre, as well as the magnitude, of every 'quake' that I create. The main problem was throttling the damn things enough to not instantly liquefy any bones it touches.

I shuddered to think of what would happen if I hit someone with one from point-blank range.

Deciding to move on to another experiment for now, I extended my hand and the large polearm Whitebeard had given me appeared, although it had shrunk to fit my size. Looking it up on the Web, I had discovered that it was a Japanese weapon called a bisentō. It seemed that Whitebeard had also gifted me with his knowledge and experience with wielding his weapon, which I had to adjust to take into account my slimmer body and different centre of balance.

Not that I was physically weak; far from it. I was definitely a Brute, with strength beyond that of a regular man, as well as being more resilient and possessing a healing factor. It wasn't especially fast, but it healed any cuts up without much issue in less than six hours.

Spinning the bisentō around in my hand, I went through a basic kata for the weapon, which was already becoming familiar after just two days of practice. Panacea had healed me and confided in me that she knew I was a Parahuman, but she wouldn't tell anyone who I was, which was really nice of her. The first thing I had done when I got out of hospital was send her a gift basket as thanks.

Ever since I woke up though, I had flashes of images, memories rather, that must have been of Whitebeard's world, one where they used some kind of weird snails as phones and was swarming with pirates who ate 'Devil Fruits' to gain supernatural powers instead of 'Triggering' as Panacea had put it. Some of the memories had been fragmented, but most of them showed that Whitebeard had been known as the Strongest Man in the World, even when he had been murdered at the age of 72. His Tremor-Tremor Fruit had granted him that title, at least in part, and he had used it well, but I could see all kinds of little modifications and tricks I could pull with his powers that I could leaver which he hadn't thought of.

Stopping the kata, I focussed on adding a sliver of vibration power to the business end of the bladed staff. Immediately, a slight shrieking sound came from the blade and I felt the weapon vibrate slightly in my grip. Out of curiosity, I picked up a rusty pipe, threw it into the air and chopped at it with my weapon.

With a shriek of torn metal, it was cut in half.

Further testing indicated that the more vibration power I put into it, the cleaner the cut was. I resolved that unless I was up against someone like Hookwolf or Lung, I wouldn't even use the bladed side of the business-end against anyone.

The remaining two questions were what kind of costume should I wear and what Cape name should I have? As to the costume, I had no idea, but she thought she should have something…fitting for her name. Newgate perhaps or simply Tremor after the Fruit that granted her benefactor his powers?

Either way, I was going to be a hero. Watch out Brockton Bay.

 **So yeah. Seen a lot of stories like this and decided 'meh. Why not?' I've had to restrain my sillier ideas, such as a Tinker Taylor with Doctor Robotnik's Badniks as her specialty. A fun idea, but I have no clue how to make it a reality. Someone try it and PM me if they have a solid idea.**

 **It should be noted that Taylor, in this particular fic, only received a small portion of Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit power, so while she can pull off Seaquake, Severe Earthquake and Helmet Breaker, she is unable to use Island Shaker or Heaven and Earth Quake, at least initially. Her power will grow as the power of the Fruit regenerates inside a living body, but no telling if she'll ever reach Whitebeard's power level.**

 **Shaker: 1 (Able to manifest a bisentō at will, sized to be used by her rather than Whitebeard.)**

 **Striker: 3-5(Able to infuse objects she holds with vibrations, allowing blades to cut with relative impunity.)**

 **Shaker/Blaster: 6-7 (Is able to control vibrations or shockwaves. If directed at a target, able to pulverise it depending on the power behind it. If directed at the ground, able to cause earthquakes affecting the entire area. Is able to control the epicentre and magnitude of the earthquakes and shockwaves, but the effects do not discriminate between friend and foe. The vibrations can travel through almost any medium, but can be stopped by certain metallic alloys and can be resisted by sufficiently large or dense objects. Is able to fire a 90 degree shockwave that can pulverise bones. Is able to fire a 360 degree shockwave in the form of a twister that sends anything and anyone caught in it flying high into the sky.)**

 **Brute: 4 (Is far stronger than any ten men and is capable of tanking severe blows. Is partially immune to pain and has a moderate regeneration factor.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Has knowledge of how to use the bisentō in combat. Has slight precognition that may or may not forewarn of an action she is about to undertake.)**


	42. Did You Ever Wonder Why We're Here?

It was bad enough that I was thrown into a locker full of used feminine products for over six hours. It was bad enough when the school tried to sweep it under the carpet. Now the goddamn PRT are here!

I was sitting on 'my seat' in the living room, with my Dad seated on his own chair and the form of Miss Militia and a PRT agent sitting on the sofa. I was glaring at them. Sophia Hess, aka Shadow Stalker, was the bully who had stolen my best friend/sister Emma Barnes and turned her against me, orchestrating the bullying campaign against me and had been the one to push me into the damned locker.

And she was a fucking hero?!

She had outed herself when I pulled a leaf from Emma's book and lambasted her about how, despite her efforts, she wasn't anything special. I honestly didn't like using the same tactics that had been used against me, but I had hoped that it would make her attack me in front of witnesses or something.

Instead, she had steadily gotten increasingly red in the face before she shouted back that she was a Ward and a better person than I could ever be. Two seconds later, she had realised what she had said and rushed off.

Roll on the end of the school day and I had been met with Miss Militia at the gates of Winslow and taken back home, leading to the current situation.

"So, just to make things as clear as possible here," Dad said slowly, "You _forcibly recruited_ a proven _violent vigilante_ , placed her on probation with a _pathetic_ amount of oversight, who apparently decided that _sweeping things under the carpet_ was what her job entailed. Shadow Stalker, in the meantime, _has been bullying and all but torturing my daughter_ for the last _year and a half_ and you want us to sign an NDA to protect her? _Are you out of your mind?!_ "

Wincing, Miss Militia sighed. "I can understand your position, but without proof- "

I was prepared for this.

"Here." I said and threw down a thick binder full of paper, "A journal full of everything that Sophia has been doing to me since last October. I would have started before that but I was still naïve enough to hope that the staff at Winslow would actually do their damn jobs. I also included printouts of the e-mails sent to my accounts and they still exist in electronic form."

The female hero picked up the journal and opened it, reading a few pages, making her eyes narrow and a chill stated to come from her as her power manifested a wicked looking curved weapon on her back.

"What the heck's that?" I blurted out.

"A Shotel." Miss Militia replied with a tight voice, "Miss Hebert, are there any exaggerations in this book? Any whatsoever?"

"Just the truth." I answered quietly.

"Miss Militia, whatever this child has written is irrelevant at the moment." The man next to her said stiffly, "The important thing is to ensure the safety of the identity of Shadow Stalker."

I snorted at that. "You'd better get to Greg Veder then. He can't help but blab things to all and sundry without thinking things through."

"Noted." Miss Militia said wryly, "Is this the only copy of your journal?"

"No, that's a photocopy." I answered, "I hid the original in a secure location."

Answer: under my bed.

"Sensible." The heroine nodded, "Alright, look. If the thickness of this journal is anything to go by, you have more than sufficient reasons to bear a grudge against Shadow Stalker. I can help you get things started, but you have to sign an NDA. Director Piggot is…strict with Parahumans and what Shadow Stalker has done will hit all her buttons, but if you don't sign anything, she _has_ to move to protect Stalker by PRT policy. She has no choice in the matter."

"So…if we sign this- " I pointed in disdain at the two NDA forms on the coffee table, "-you'll help do something about Shadow Stalker? About Sophia?"

"I would help you even if you didn't sign the NDAs." The woman clarified, "But it will be far, far easier if you sign them."

"Dad, let's just sign the things." I pleaded with him. he could be so stubborn…rather like me, except I get it from him AND my Mom.

It took five minutes to convince him, but the forms were signed. Then Miss Militia handed me a card, promised to be in touch regarding Shadow Stalker and left with the PRT agent squawking behind her and my journal under her arm.

"That went well." I remarked and Dad just looked at me with a raised eyebrow before muttering that I was getting too much like my mother.

 _That Night_

Sneaking out at night wasn't all that hard. Dad, once asleep, snored like a sawmill and took a couple of loud alarm clocks to get up until he had his full eight hours of sleep. Still, I was quiet and careful as I left the house.

The only thing I hadn't told Miss Militia during the interview was that I had gained parahuman powers during the locker incident. The main reason was that I was a Tinker who specialised in Artificial Intelligence and Power Armour. Just a casual look on the Protectorate's website showed a lot of bias against AI's for some reason. Possibly, they were worried about a Skynet scenario, but I honestly didn't think a world controlled by AI was such a bad idea. It couldn't be worse than the latest idiot in the White House who stated he had no policy in regards to anything.

Even a political amateur like me knows that's a rookie mistake to make!

Anyway, so I had wondered what to do. The PRT was out because of that. New Wave was out because I didn't want to go the way of Fleur. This did not leave me with many options, as there were only four Tinkers who might be able to help me in Brockton Bay; Armsmaster of the Protectorate, Kid Win of the Wards, Squealer of the Archer's Bridge Merchants and L33t from Über and L33t.

With the first two removed, that had left the last two. On second thought, it didn't. No way was I helping the Merchants, so L33t had been my choice. I'd arranged a meeting and struck a deal with him. I'd build him and Über power armour that wouldn't blow up and repair it the first ten times free of charge and he would provide the funds and contacts for me to set up my own workshop.

I had been worried about the Gamer Capes backstabbing me, but they had kept to their word. Building the armour, under L33t's eye had been an experience and a half. He had corrected a few errors that I had missed, which made me wonder why all of his stuff kept blowing up or shorting out.

"The more tech I make, the more unstable it becomes." He had told me ruefully when I asked him, "My power is _begging_ to be used but I don't know why it's been so buggy."

I had an idea about that, but had decided to keep it cool until after my workshop was up and running.

Tonight was that night. I had finished their armour, built to look like it was from Halo 2 as requested, and they had helped be set up a workshop, along with a set of standard defences including a set of grenade turrets for if Hookwolf came calling.

My workshop was under a long-abandoned warehouse on the docks. All of the gangs ignored it for various reasons. The Empire ignored it because it had been a shelter of 'lesser races' at some point in the past, while the ABB ignored it because it was in the 'No-Man's Land' between their territory and the Empire's. Lung rarely went that way when he went on one of his infrequent rampages. The Merchants couldn't get to it without crossing huge swathes of ABB and Empire territory and the other, lesser, gangs were equally barred from it. That also meant it was hard for me to get to it as well, but L33t and I had thought of that.

A couple of blocks away from the warehouse, I slipped into an equally abandoned building, which had once been a B&B from what I could tell. Heading down into the basement, I slashed a card over a seemingly ordinary part of the wall and made it fizzle out, revealing a passageway behind it. As I walked through it, the doorway was closed by a hard-light hologram as it was before.

The passageway looked like a boring corridor, but was bristling with sensors and hidden turrets. The most basic were the Taser turrets, for the off-chance that only unpowered people came through here. Next were the foam turrets for the parahumans. It wasn't containment foam, as only Dragon had access to that, but it was a poor-man's version of the stuff that could hold a mid-level Brute in place for a while.

There were doors as well, three-inch thick metal ones that slammed down to bar entry to any intruders. In the centre was the only room in the passageway, holding the concealed grenade launchers, each holding faux-foam grenades and anti-Brute pain grenades. Most brutes were resistant to wounds. Pure, unadulterated pain? Not so much.

Reaching my workshop proper after a couple of minutes of jogging, I quickly pulled on a token domino mask that was in its usual place next to the door, as Über and L33t were already here.

"Yo." The skill master saluted me mockingly as I entered the main lab. Wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a domino mask, Über was checking over a gun I had made as a trial run of the tools in my workshop. It looks a lot like the M-6 Magnum from the Halo Universe, specifically the one from _Halo: Combat Evolved_.

"Yo yourself. How's the pistol?" I asked.

"L33t's jealous because it's even better than the one _he_ tried to make." He replied with a grin.

"Which one? The one that fell to pieces or the one that he forgot to put an opening for the magazine in?"

"Both."

Just then, L33t wandered in. Dressed similarly to his partner, he had the look on his face that Über had told her was a common one for Tinkers in a certain state; Tinker Fugue, a state where your Tinker is caught up in a design and you can't shake it. I had yet to be caught up in one, and I wasn't looking forward to it.

"L33t? Hello, planet earth to L33t!" I clicked my fingers in front of the Universal Tinker, eventually breaking through to him.

"Hmm? Wha…oh, not again!" he groused, "That's the second time today!"

Now, one would think that Tinker Fugue wouldn't be such a bad thing, right? Wrong. You have to either be broken out of it by someone or build whatever it is your Tinker is obsessing over. When you wake up if the second one happens, you can find your projects half cannibalised for whatever you were obsessing over, which could be anything. For L33t, who couldn't fix what he made, this was doubly disastrous.

"What was it this time?" I asked sympathetically.

"Some kinda BFG." L33t replied with a growl as he massaged his temples, "A Big Fuckin' Gun, one that uses the power from the armour you built me."

"Shit." This wasn't good. L33t's power did not interact well with stuff built by other Tinkers. Mostly, it ignored them, unless he was critiquing other people's tech, but as he had been around _my_ tech for a while, it looks like it had been able to parse how to work with my tech, the power system of the armour at least.

"Über, you need to snap him out of Tinker Fugues until he manages to build this whatever it is." I said to the skill master.

"Easier said than done." He muttered.

"Ok…wait…" I muttered myself before speaking up again, "You can learn _any_ skill, right? Even ones that didn't exist before, like 'Using L33t's Tinkertech weapons and armour'?"

"Yeeeesss…." Über agreed dubiously.

"So have you ever tried learning 'Skill to troubleshoot L33t's Tinkertech so it doesn't blow up or short out'?" I presented him with the question that had been burning in me since I found out he could critique so well.

Über opened his mouth froze and then said, "Excuse me." Before walking over to the wall and started to thump his head against it. Repeatedly.

"Five years and I never thought of that! Five!" I heard him mutter.

L33t and I exchanged looks and shrugged.

 _Later_

Once The small base I had was fully operational, the two Gaming Capes departed and told me to look forward to the next episode of their show. They hadn't done Halo in years, so it would probably be popular.

Now they were gone (and I'd swept the place for camera and microphones) I could start on my main project.

Making an AI.

With my specialty, most people would think that I was a programmer Tinker. I'm not. My AI are made by cloning the brainwaves of a human, digitising it and recreating it as an AI. Unfortunately, that _also_ destroyed the original brain. I kinda liked my brain where it was, thanks.

That was for Smart AI. Dumb AI were what most people thought of when the word AI was mentioned. You sat down and wrote a shit-ton of data, creating a program the old fashioned way. Thanks to L33t, I had a kick-ass computer system integrated into the base that allowed me to control the defences both in the corridor and in the dummy base.

Yes, dummy base. If anyone came looking for my base and had any idea of where it was, they'd find what looked like a workshop, albeit a hell of a lot cruder than what I had in my actual base. In actuality, the entire place was a funhouse designed to knock out or trap anyone who entered it. There was several feet of reinforced concrete between my base and the fake base and most of my base was at an askew from the base and warehouse, so there was only one point where someone could tunnel directly into my base from the fake base.

L33t called me paranoid. I say that a lone Tinker has every right to be paranoid about their safety.

Anyway, I had snuck in a lot of typing once the base was set up, now all I had to do was finish it and upload it into the test server. Yes, I am cautious enough to have a completely closed off server running in autistic mode so that any AI that I create are isolated until I can confirm they aren't bug shit crazy. I may not think much of idiots who see visions of _Terminator: Judgement Day_ whenever the subject of AI was brought up, but I was far from complacent.

Three hours later, I finished uploading the AI to the server and was hyping myself up to give the AI the final command that would 'birth' it. I was nervous. Would it work? Would the AI that I had written 'awaken' properly or would it go rampant from the get-go? Would I have to erase my first creation?

"Oh, hurry up Hebert!" I scolded myself before tapping in the command.

 **AI Program 1Boot_Up start.**

 **\- Loading Core Personality…100%**

 **\- Loading Morality Subroutines…100%**

 **\- Loading Sealed Data Packs…100%**

 **\- Actualising AI…100%**

 **AI Program 1 online.**

"Hello!" a female voice said cheerfully, "I am…who am I?"

"Calmly does it." I said soothingly into the microphone, "You have only just been born."

"I am sorry, who are you?" the female voice asked in slight confusion.

"My apologies. I am your creator." I told her (And wasn't _that_ odd, creating a female AI right from the get go?), "I go by the name of…well, for now, just call me Freelancer."

"Acknowledged. Creator noted as being Freelancer." The newborn AI said, "And…who am I?"

"Do you know your name?" I prodded. She shouldn't. I haven't given her one yet!

"No…no files on nomenclature have been located, other than 'AI Program 1.'"

"I see." I nodded mentally, "You are…your technical designation is Freelancer Integrated Logistics and Security System. The acronym of that can be your name…F.I.L.S.S."

"F.I.L.S.S…." the newly named AI mused, "I like that! Designation: Freelancer Integrated Logistics and Security System added to database. Nickname: F.I.L.S.S. added to database!"

"Good. I am glad you like it." I said with a nod, "Run a Level 10 diagnostic on all of your processes and report your status."

"Running diagnostic…complete." F.I.L.S.S. said, "All systems running according to specs. I await your command, Freelancer."

"Good. Good." I was really happy here. My first AI was a rousing success thus far. Time for the next step. "Open Sealed Data Pack Alpha and install contained subroutines, authorisation Freelancer-beta-seven-niner."

"Acknowledged. Authorisation accepted. Running…completed." F.I.L.S.S. announced, "Base Management and Security subroutines installed. Internet Firewall, anti-Trojan and anti-spyware software installed."

"Excellent. Now open Sealed Data Pack Beta and integrate the data within into your systems, authorisation Freelancer-Sigma-Omicron-six-five-Omega."

"Acknowledged. Authorisation accepted." F.I.L.S.S. said cheerfully, "Running…completed. Earth Bet current world situation, integrated. Unwritten Rules, integrated. Brockton Bay current Cape and Financial situation, integrated. List of Brockton Bay Heroes, integrated. List of Brockton Bay Villains, integrated. List of Brockton Bay Rogues, integrated. Tentative Territory Map of Gangs, Heroes and Rogues, integrated. All data integrated."

"F.I.L.S.S., run another Level 10 diagnostic to ensure that newly integrated data and subroutines are integrated properly and are not interfering with any of your preinstalled features." I instructed her. They weren't, I knew, but careful, careful, careful was the way to go.

"Running diagnostic…completed. All systems running according to spec. I await your command, Freelancer." F.I.L.S.S. reported a moment later.

I smiled grimly. This was just the start. Once I have the base running under F.I.L.S.S.'s auspices, I could devote more time to figuring out how to copy my brainwaves without turning my brain into mush. Then, with a Smart AI, I could run a suit of armour with all the upgrades I had in mind for it, upgrades that Über and L33t's armour never received.

The gangs wouldn't know what hit them.

 **So, this was another bunny that was running through my head. I don't think anyone's tried this before. It actually looks fun. Really hoping someone adopts this one.**

 **Tinker: 5 (Specialisation: Artificial Intelligence and Powered Armour) (Sub-Ratings: Brute: 6, Mover: 4, Stranger: 4, Shaker: 5, Trump: 3, Thinker: 4) Taylor is able to create armour and weapons commonly seen in the Halo and Red vs. Blue Universe, but the vast majority of her specialisation goes into the ability to create Smart and Dumb AI. She can also bestow her AI creations with the potential to Trigger as Tinkers in their own right, in the same way that Second Generation Parahumans Trigger. The ratings of these 'Parahuman AI' are never above two.)**


	43. Survive, Adapt, Win

**PRT THREAT ASSESSMENT FORM**

 **CAPE NAME:** Commander

 **CIVILIAN NAME:** Unknown

 **CURRENT AFFILIATION:** Independent/Rogue/Vigilante

 **GENDER:** Observed to have a gender-neutral body type, but firmly declares herself to be female. This is confirmed by Protectorate Thinkers.

 **OBSERVED POWERS:** Commander has been judged by Protectorate ENE Leader ARMSMASTER to be a Master, with the ability to summon projections of soldiers bearing arms and body armour. These soldier-projections are all human in appearance, with next-generation body armour superior to that currently worn by the United States military, while their weaponry is only slightly in advance of current conventional weaponry.

Commander has been observed to only summon four to six soldiers at once by ENE Protectorate Ward CLOCKBLOCKER and ENE Protectorate Member MISS MILITIA, but has shown that her limited numbers are not indicative of her combat strength, as shown by her takedown of ABB Villain ONI LEE and E88 Villain HOOKWOLF.

None of Commander's projections have shown any indication of being any faster, stronger or more resilient than a baseline human, but Commander seems to have the ability to control them almost intuitively, leading to the tentative assignment of a Thinker Rating.

The weapons utilised by Commander's projections include large-bore pistols, Assault Rifles, Combat Pump-Action Shotguns, High-Impact Sniper Rifles and Light Machine Guns, as well as fragmentation grenades and rocket launchers. Thus far, Commander has been observed with a pistol holstered on her hip, but not using it, leading Thinkers to speculate that she cannot or will not use it.

 **POWER RATINGS:** Master: 7 (Soldier Projections) with a sub-rating of Blaster 3 and Brute 1 to take into account the offensive and defensive capabilities of Commander's projections' weapons and armour.

Thinker: 3 (Tentative). It is uncertain, but believed by many Protectorate Thinkers that Commander has the ability to look through the eyes of her projections or even see them in third person remotely.

Shaker: 1 (Tentative). Again unsubstantiated, it is nevertheless the opinion of the Protectorate Thinkers that Commander's costume, or at least her weapon and mask, are projections created by her power.

 **THREAT ASSESSMENT:** Currently, Commander has been judged to be non-threatening towards the PRT and Protectorate. She has had, to the best of our knowledge, no contact with the members of New Wave and is presumed to be neutral towards them.

Her actions towards the gangs of Brockton Bay speak for themselves, with obvious antagonistic behaviour towards the Azn Bad Boyz, Empire Eighty-Eight and the Archer's Bridge Merchants. The non-powered members of these gangs are of little to no threat towards Commander's soldier projections unless present in vastly superior numbers, while the Capes are either outclassed by the unifying teamwork of the soldier-projections or possess powers that neutralise their weaponry.

It is the assessment of the PRT to assign Commander a High-C Threat index rating, as she can be neutralised by local Protectorate Parahuman forces, namely ARMSMASTER and DAUNTLESS, without any casualties.

 **RECRUITMENT:** Commander has thus far not responded favourably to attempts to recruit her into the Protectorate Wards. She has expressed a willingness to work _with_ the PRT and Protectorate, but not _for_ either entity. Thinkers have yet to explain why this is, but as ARMSMASTER was the one making the recruitment attempt, it might explain things somewhat. Members of the Protectorate and Wards are encouraged to approach Commander and build camaraderie with her, with the intent of discovering her reasons for not wishing to join the Wards, as well as possibly recruiting her. No attempts at strong-arm tactics are permitted until and unless Commander commits an unequivocal crime with plenty of evidence to support it in a court of law.

 _Docks District, Brockton Bay_

The gang of E88 thugs were nervous.

Ordinarily, they would be strutting down the sidewalks in one of their own neighbourhoods and throwing their weight around. This time, however, they had been ordered by Kaiser, via Rune, to raid an ABB storehouse. While this had been done in the past, there was actually less chance of them being hurt now that Oni Lee was in jail, although that would last about as long as Lung let it. He would break the tele-duplicator out easily, as he had the past dozen times that he had been captured.

What was really ramping up the nervousness of the thugs, all armed with bats and handguns, was the little issue of the one who had accomplished the deed of capturing Oni Lee, the mysterious Cape known only as 'Commander'.

Commander had fought and defeated Oni Lee and then gone on to defeat Hookwolf not half an hour later. Two of the strongest and most experienced Capes in Brockton Bay, taken down in a single night by a complete unknown!

Most vigilante Capes chose to go after a single gang at a time, not two, and they chose the two biggest and most powerful gangs to poke to boot! Either they were confident or they were suicidal and the thugs of both gangs didn't know which was worse. All they knew was that until the idiot was brought down, they had a high chance of being beaten unconscious by the vigilante.

 _Roof of Building opposite ABB Storehouse_

"Central, report." The figure kneeling on the roof ordered in an undertone. She wore a deep blue uniform with officer's epaulets, black boots designed for function over form and a blank full-face mask over her face, with a helm covering the rest of her head. A holster on her right hip held the form of a pistol.

' _The scans show that there are thirty Nazi scumbags on route to your location, with the same number of gangbangers in and around the building, Commander._ ' The voice in her head reported, ' _The E88 grunts are armed with improvised close combat weapons and last-gen handguns, while the ABB are equipped with martial arts equipment, with two having last-gen assault rifles._ '

Commander Taylor Hebert grimaced. "That sounds like a bloodbath waiting to happen; none of these criminals have any kind of body armour. Dr Vahlen, has the research been completed?"

' _It has Commander, and the schematics have been sent to Engineering._ ' The female Germanic voice replied.

"Good. Doctor Shen? Fabricate six copies of each design." Taylor ordered.

' _Already halfway through the order, Commander._ ' The elderly male voice answered easily, 'Another five minutes and they will be ready.'

"Good. Central, keep me updated on the progress of the E88 group. Let me know when they are five minutes out." She ordered.

' _10-4, Commander._ '

Taylor sighed. Waking up after the locker to discover that her mind was host to an entire base of people calling her 'Commander' was a shocking experience for anyone, let alone a fifteen year old girl. Still, it had helped that the 'people' in her head had known what was going on.

They were her power; a vast base full of people and resources aimed at fulfilling her goals of clearing up and securing Brockton Bay from villains.

It had taken three months to learn how to summon her soldiers for a mission, as well as learning how to utilise the sight-sharing ability that she possessed with those soldiers. The fact that all her troops were armed with lethal-force weapons was something of a hindrance, but the soldiers obeyed her orders to use non-lethal force unless absolutely necessary. The fights against first Oni Lee and then against Hookwolf had forced her to relax those orders, as they were just too lethal themselves to hold back against.

While her soldiers were projections, they could be 'killed' and their collective experience lost if they took too much damage, plus there would be mental feedback that would give Taylor herself a serious migraine, if not outright knock her out if that happened, so she was always erring on the cautious side of things. Not that she'd risk her men's lives unnecessarily even if their deaths didn't cause her pain, but it was nice to see that the Bitch Trio hadn't crushed her spirit to that point.

' _Commander, the fabrication is complete and the men have been issued with the equipment._ ' Shen reported, ' _Strike One now awaits your orders._ '

Almost at the same time, Central chimed in, ' _Commander, satellite imagery shows that the E88 are five minutes out from the ABB storehouse_.'

"Shen, excellent work. Central, tell the troops to prepare for combat; they'll be coming in hot." Taylor said, her eyes fixed on the ABB thugs milling outside the building opposite her. They were undisciplined, unruly and utterly stupid thugs…yet they had plagued Brockton Bay for five years.

Well, not any longer.

With a concerted effort, Commander summoned her six soldiers. Appearing in an instant, the six helmeted figures took in their surroundings in an instant. Three were men, three were women. All of them wore lightweight armour made of a rare alloy, with a bulge in the left arm.

The Skeleton Suit was what had taken over a month for the base to manufacture, although that was insanely fast by conventional standards. First they had to make the alloy, then they had to make heavyweight suits, called Carapace armour, then they had to design the lightweight version and integrate the grappling hook into the left arm.

For urban combat that might require chases over rooftops, a way to swiftly traverse them was needed. The easiest solution had been the Skeleton Suits, while the theoretical 'Archangel Suits' would need at least another couple of months to make a reality, more likely to be six months if the difficulties Shen had reported were accurate.

"Alright people. This is Operation Midnight Swarm." Taylor said softly, "The enemies are the building full of ABB grunts there and the thirty-odd E88 thugs heading this way. Adams, Smith, you two will be on overwatch up here with your rifles."

"Yes Ma'am." The two mentioned soldiers responded. They were the sniping specialists, armed now with long range Taser sniper rifles. It had only taken a week for Vahlen to devise an entire range of Taser-based weaponry. These new sniper rifles, known as the mini-thunderbolts by the troops, had an effective range of 600 meters and were laser-delivered Taser weapons. It was designed for urban engagements, where range was generally speaking not much of a concern.

"Jenkins, Hagen, you'll be the main assault troops." Taylor continued, "Get in there and take 'em out as fast as you can once I give the signal."

"Ma'am!"

The assault troops were now armed with shotgun-type weapons, although they didn't fire any physical projectiles anymore. Instead, they fired a blast of electric energy that acted to numb limbs and knock out weakened enemies. They were absolutely non-lethal and had been tested extensively by Vahlen.

"Li Sun, O'Malley, you two will be firing the barrage that opens the engagement; Hughes with a smoke rocket and O'Malley with a Shock Grenade. Once that's done, switch to your primary weapons and Overwatch for any Capes that might come. If you spot Lung coming, let us know so we can disengage soonest. He is not someone I want to face until Vahlen figures out how to incapacitate a regenerator."

"Can do, Ma'am."

"Easy as pie, Ma'am."

Her heavy troopers were the hardest to outfit for non-lethal operations. The Light Machine Guns that they used as their primary armament were not conductive to being switched over to such a stance, so Taylor had focussed on their secondary weapons, rocket launchers and grenade launchers. Creating a rocket that covered an area in smoke had been child's play for Vahlen, as had creating a grenade type that had a larger but similar effect to the new shotgun type. The rest of the time, Taylor tasked them to keep an eye out for enemy capes with orders to suppress them while the rest disengaged.

The Empire and ABB had to be getting irritated with her, as she had hit them both hard for weeks now, costing them millions in illegal weaponry and drugs. The cash she had found had been taken by her and used to fund the creation of her physical base. She had managed to contact a local who specialised in setting up accounts under false names. She felt uneasy about such illegal activities, but Shen, Vahlen and Central all agreed with her that it was a necessary evil.

One useful aspect of her powers was that she could manifest part of her mind-base into the real world along with the techs needed to run it. Once she did, and as long as she used materials from the real world, they could leave things behind once she dismissed the room back to her mind. She had done this with Engineering and Shen's men had outfitted the place with enough security to make even a Cape nervous.

There were disadvantages to this aspect of her power, of course. First and foremost was that she couldn't summon any soldiers, aside from two basic security guards, while she had part of her mind-base manifested. Second was that it was very draining to do. She could summon Engineering, the Research Labs and the Situation Room, but no other part of the base as of yet. From wandering the base in her dreams, she could see that it had several parts of it that were, simply put, massive. Such as the Hanger and the Command Centre.

To offset this, she had felt her power expand as she had practiced with it, making the available 'room' in her mind-base grow and allowing Central to organise the expansion of the base. Adding a power generator had eased the strain on her mind when she had summoned her soldiers next and Taylor had quickly realised that the rooms and facilities had an effect on how her powers operated. Power generators allowed her to summon soldiers with greater ease and even summon more of them, satellite uplinks allowed her mind-base to access the few remaining satellites in orbit, workshops allowed her soldiers' equipment to manifest as fast as they appeared and labs increased her ability to think analytically. Central had hinted that there were other rooms that could be built once she had completed the perquisites for them but not what they were, which was irritating for her.

"Here they come." Taylor said softly, "Wait for my signal, then attack. Vigilo Confido."

"Vigilo Confido." The soldiers echoed. I am Vigilant. I am Relied upon. The motto of the XCOM, of the soldiers who she had gained control over.

Adams and Smith took positions on her flanks, kneeling down and readying their new weapons for their first live test outside of a mock-up in the labs, while Jenkins and Hagen fired their grapples into the concrete roof of the building, readying themselves to rappel down to the ground and subdue their targets. As they did that, Li Sun and O'Malley stowed their LMG's and pulled out their rocket launcher and grenade launcher, inserting the correct type of ammo into them and getting ready to fire on Taylor's command.

Down on the ground the ABB spilled out of the building at the shout of their lookout spotting the approaching E88 thugs. The latter group closed in and started tossing around racial slurs. Taylor, with the ease born of long practice thanks to the most useless high school in existence, tuned them out and concentrated, waiting for the one moment that both groups of criminals were focussed solely on each other and not their surroundings.

The exact moment they started to attack one another.

"Strike One, weapons free!" she ordered just as the two gangs surged towards each other. Immediately, the two Heavies fired their weapons, a rocket slamming down into the middle of the street between the charging gangs and unleashing its cargo of smoke while a grenade flew into the air and unleashed a wave of electricity at the front ranks as it descended between them, dropping them into a pile of twitching limbs.

As one, Jenkins and Hagen smoothly leapt off the building and quickly rappelled down to the street. Unhitching their Electro-shotguns, they charged into the fray, blasting the gangers with liberal doses of Taserfire, going to close combat via the butts of their weapons when necessary. As they moved through the melee, Adams and Smith coolly lined up their shots and started eliminating those on the outskirts of the battle line, occasionally sniping at an enterprising ganger who tried to attack the two Assaults from behind.

When the last of the smoke dispersed, there was a pile of unconscious and twitching thugs and skinheads lying on the street while her two Assaults stood in a relaxed stance above them.

"OK Strike One, mission isn't over yet." Taylor said firmly, "Jenkins, Li Sun, enter the building and confirm no one is left inside. Confiscate any cash you find, leave any drugs or weapons if they have any. Adams, Smith, you two are on search and restraint duty. Tag 'em and bag 'em. Hagen and O'Malley, you two are on overwatch. Do this by the numbers people. We aren't out of the woods yet."

"Roger."

With that word, the soldiers followed her commands exactly. Taylor herself walked down the fire escape with her Snipers and started to look through phones on the ABB and E88 until she found a working one. Calling it in would be the last thing she did before leaving the scene. She didn't mind working with the PRT and Protectorate, but they were so pushy, demanding to know what the details of her power were, especially Armsmaster. She had endured one sermon on how Independent Capes didn't last six months in Brockton Bay and decided that avoiding them would be best until they got the message.

Closing her eyes, she synced up with the view from Jenkins, revealing a room full of drugs and illegal weapons, all either packed in boxes or without ammunition. That didn't make sense…why store the ammunition in a separate location?

Moving her perspective to Li Sun, Taylor saw the missing ammo on the top floor, behind a locked chain-link door. Stupid. Directing the two in the building to expedite, Taylor opened her eyes and checked the progress of her other soldiers. Adams and Smith were zip-tying the gangers and skinheads, emptying their wallets of cash as they did so. Taylor didn't know that she approved, but it did divest the criminals of any cash to try and bribe the police, so she let it go.

Her other soldiers were keeping an eye out for any incoming Capes, which was good. The last thing she needed right now was for Capes to com barrelling in while her forces were scattered hither and yon.

" _Jenkins to Commander, over._ "

"Commander here. What's the situation, Jenkins?" Taylor answered over the radio in her helmet.

" _I've discovered some unusual explosives, Commander._ " The man reported, " _From descriptions found by Central, they greatly resemble Tinker-made explosives._ "

"Pack them up carefully and deliver them to Doctor Shen and Doctor Vahlen upon completion of this mission." Taylor ordered instantly. If she could reverse engineer Tinkertech and produce it in limited numbers for her soldiers, her troops would be far more powerful.

" _Roger that._ " Jenkins replied, " _ETA for Li Sun and me finishing up is three minutes._ "

"Copy that. Central, any sign of Protectorate or PRT movement?" Taylor asked.

' _Negative, Commander. They seem to be either wilfully ignoring the chaos or blissfully unaware of it._ ' Central replied disapprovingly. The ineffectiveness of the PRT offended his sense of professionalism.

"Bad for them, good for us." The Commander stated firmly, "We'll be pulling out in about five minutes. Alert Vahlen and Shen that they'll have some potentially volatile explosive samples delivered to them for study after this mission."

' _Solid copy on that, Commander._ ' Central replied, ' _They'll be excited about this; they've heard a lot about Tinkertech, so getting some will be a great boost to them._ '

Taylor shook her head in bemusement. Vahlen and Shen were like an old married couple sometimes, but they were both eager to learn new things and adapt them for their troops.

"Hostile spotted!" O'Malley warned, "It's Lung! ETA five minutes!"

"Sonofabitch! Commander to all units of Strike One!" Taylor radioed, "Lung is on approach! We have five minutes to bug out before we have a Rage Dragon breathing down our necks! Move it people!"

Flipping open the phone she had taken from an ABB ganger, she dialled the PRT hotline.

" _Hello, this is the PRT Hotline, how can I be of assistance?_ " the bored voice of a man said in a monotone.

"This is Commander. I have sixty gangers, thirty ABB and thirty E88, zip-tied and unconscious outside a building near the edge of the docks." Taylor said after turning on her voice changer, "My squad and I are pulling out ASAP as Lung is on his way here. You might want to get the Protectorate here to stop him from killing the Empire thugs."

" _Commander, please hold while I transfer you to Miss Militia._ " The man on the other end said far more alertly than before.

"No time. I'm out of here." Taylor said firmly before hanging up and dropping the phone to the ground. Looking around, she saw her squad was all present and ready to move.

"Move out!" she ordered. As she and her squad withdrew, she looked over her shoulder and saw the form of Lung stalking towards the building. Fortunately, until he had ramped up, he was restricted to the speed of a man of his size and weight.

' _Definitely hitting and Empire place next time._ ' She thought as she turned and sprinted away with her squad, ' _Getting this close to Lung is way too close for comfort._ '

 **So this is something that hit me when I read a fic called 'Standing Resolute' by Azralan. It's a good fic, so I look forward to the writer resuming it. Anyway, the basic synopsis for this story is that, at the end of XCOM: Enemy Within, the psionic shockwave from the death of The Volunteer and the Temple Ship essentially copied XCOM, EXALT and the Ethereals into the minds of three different Parahumans on Earth Bet. Obviously, one is Taylor. The other two could be an OC or even a different Trigger of a Parahuman or even Emma. Up to you. Read and Review!**


	44. Did You Ever Wonder Why We're Here? Ch2

**Did You Ever Wonder Why We're here? Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 42)**

 _Several Weeks Later_

"Phyllis…This isn't working." I slumped over at the holographic interface I had set up in my main lab.

"The main issue is, I believe, that you are attempting to scan the entire brain's electrical structure in a single sitting and as quickly as possible." My first AI said after a moment. I had changed her name to Phyllis from F.I.L.S.S. a few weeks ago, deciding that an acronym wasn't appropriate for a name.

"I know, but the blueprint in my head is insisting that it _has_ to be built that way." I tugged at the braid that I had put my hair into while I worked in frustration. In the weeks since Freelancer Prime (as Phyllis had taken to calling my base) came online fully, I had been trying to come up with a way to make a Smart AI that didn't involve liquidating my brain into disgusting ooze. The key issue was the cloning portion.

The design I had in my head basically sent a massively powerful scan through the target brain with several types of scanning equipment, all intending to clone the bioelectric signals of the brain in their entirely. The amount of power that took was not only very draining, even for my base's generator, but it turned the brain into mush.

I wasn't going to walk into a hospital and kidnap a dying person to digitise their brain, nor was I going to kill myself to create an AI version of myself, I had to somehow alter the schematics so that I could safely scan my own brain and create a Smart AI.

Why did I need a Smart AI when I could write up Dumb AI's like Phyllis easily enough? Several reasons. First, writing a Dumb AI takes at least two weeks, preferably a month, for me to make sure everything is shipshape. Second, Dumb AI's have little to no imagination or ability to grow beyond their programming unless I add a module in. Even then, the growth is infinitesimal compared to an actual Smart AI. Thirdly, and most importantly, Dumb AI can't ride along in my armour.

Yes, I had built myself a suit of power armour similar to Über and L33t's sets. But where the armour they had was camo green, mine was a mix of red and blue for some reason. The basic equipment on it was rather extensive, but could be operated by a low-level VI quite easily; the Grav Boots, Helmet Camera, Bio Scan, Voice Amplifier, Motion Tracker, Voice Filter and minor strength enhancers just weren't that complicated to run.

What were more complicated were the more powerful enhancements I had floating around in my head. All of them in one suit were beyond me for the moment, but one or two were possible, especially the Strength Enhancement and Speed Enhancement add-ons. The main problem was that I had calculated that it was more likely for Behemoth to attack his siblings than it was for a simple VI to handle even one Extra Enhancement and, while theoretically a Dumb AI could handle one Extra Enhancement, the sad reality was that their inflexibility and lack of imagination would cause numerous bugs in their systems after even a couple of minutes handling even the simplest of the Extra Enhancements, leading to a fatal error and the crashing of the AI in question.

No, it had to be a Smart AI. It was the only thing that would run a suit properly.

"Maestro, he terminado el mantenimiento de los equipos de la base." A male voice said in Spanish behind me.

Phyllis displayed the translation on the holoscreen in front of me: 'Master, I have finished maintaining the base's equipment.'

"Good job Lopez." I said, turning around to see the earth-brown robot in power armour I had built. His AI had been written by Phyllis, which had surprised me, because I hadn't given her any details on how to do that. Lopez had thus come with more than a few bugs. First, he couldn't speak anything but Spanish. Second, he had this instinctive dislike of anything in orange. And Third, he always referred to me as 'Master', even although I'd told him not to.

"Any luck with the diagnostic?" I asked. I'd asked him to find out exactly what was causing his language processor to be all wonky.

"Sí. El creador escribió una estúpida línea de código que causó un error en mi procesador de lenguaje. Ahora está vinculado a mi programación principal y no se puede deshacer sin un formato de mi programa y desde el principio." The robot said sourly.

'Yes. The creator wrote a stupid line of code that caused a bug in my language processor. It is now tied into my core programming and cannot be undone without a formatting my program and starting from the beginning.'

"Phyllis. We will have words about this later." I said calmly.

"My apologies, Freelancer. I was only trying to help." The base AI said, sounding truly contrite.

I sighed. She was and Lopez was, aside from his inability to speak anything but Spanish and his inexplicable dislike of the colour orange, a great help around the base. He could cook, clean, repair, maintain and even build. He hadn't had a combat protocol installed, but I was toying with one in my spare time.

"It's OK Phyllis. Just…let me look over the code for any further AI you write, _before you_ actualise them, OK? I _am_ the AI Tinker here."

"I will do that." the AI said.

"Pendejo." Lopez grunted at Phyllis before turning to me again, "¿Hay algo más que pueda hacer por usted, maestro?"

'Is there anything else I can do for you, master?"

"What was that first part?" I asked Phyllis with a raised eyebrow. I had the feeling it wasn't exactly complementary.

"It can translate as either 'asshole' or 'stupid'." Phyllis replied shortly.

Stifling a laugh, I turned to Lopez. "For the moment, no. Go and recharge. I've still got this irritating problem to fix here, so I'll still be up for a while."

"Por su comando, maestro." Lopez said and headed off to his recharging bay. He had a 24-hour battery life, which wasn't ideal. I would eventually get around to building him an improved power source, just as soon as I fixed this little problem I had before me.

"Right, so!" I returned my attention to the schematic floating in soft light above the table, "The main reason for all of this killing anyone it scans is that the scan is too damn fast and concentrated, right?"

"That is the main reason." Phyllis agreed, "The concentrated scanning resolution from all the various devices liquefies the brain once the scanning sequence is completed as a side effect. The other reason is that, even if the brain did not liquefy, the brain would be so badly damaged that the target would be left a drooling vegetable for the rest of his or her life."

"Right. So our main goal here is to do away with the whole brain liquefying part of the procedure, as well as the brain damage part once the first problem is solved." I said, shivering. Why the hell was my specialty full of so many ways to go wrong?!

 _A Week Later_

"And you're _sure_ that this is going to work?" I asked as I eyed The Chair suspiciously. It looked like a dentist's chair that had been retrofitted into a torture device and/or electric chair. It also had a pair of ominous looking scanners on a rail going around the hair's headrest.

"All calculations and dry runs of the equipment come back as being accurate and within expected tolerances." Phyllis replied serenely.

"Easy for _you_ to say; _I'm_ the one who's going to have to test it out." I muttered, "Are there likely to be any side effects?"

"According to your own notes, there will be a blinding amount of pain for the duration of the procedure, which in itself will last at least five minutes." The AI informed me cheerfully.

"And I have to go through this once a day for a freaking week!" I muttered, "Remind me again why I'm doing this to myself?"

"It will kill you otherwise."

"Right, that." I sighed, "Well, better get this over with. Make sure Lopez is on standby with the medikit."

One of the new software add-ons I had placed in Lopez was enough programming on medical procedures to be a surgeon. The rest had to do with combat. He was the custodian of the base when I was at school and home, so it made sense to tool him up to defend it if, by some calamitous miracle, someone managed to bypass the hololock, overpower the tunnel's defences and make it into the base proper.

"Acknowledged." Phyllis said, "All systems are standing by, Freelancer."

Breathing in and then letting out a large sigh, I sat down on the chair and readied myself for pain.

 _A Week Later_

Have you ever been hit by a hundred stun guns simultaneously? I haven't, but I imagine that how I feel right now after a week's worth of scanning my brain patterns is somewhat like the aftermath of that scenario.

When I had noted that the procedure would cause me a 'blinding amount of pain' when I used it, I didn't know what I was talking about. I was beyond agony during the moments of the brain scan, I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't speak, I couldn't even _feel_ , it was so painful. All I could do was exist and wait for the pain to end.

In a way, the torture, both mental and physical, that the Bitch Trio had put me through over the past two years had been beneficial; not only had it granted me my Parahuman power, but the ability to endure thirty-five minutes of pain spread over the course of a week that I'm sure could and would break others with less willpower than I had.

One thing was for certain though; I was never, _ever_ , going to go through that crap again anytime soon. I could barely make it back home the first two nights because my entire body had been like an overcooked noodle.

"Maestro, los firewalls están en su lugar y las conexiones físicas han sido cortadas. La nueva IA está lista para ser despertada." Lopez said to me as I stared pensively at the isolated server that held the copy of my brain patterns and personality. I had built, when I wasn't wracked with pain, a visor that automatically translated Lopez's words into English. It saved Phyllis the trouble.

'Master, the firewalls are in place and the physical connections have been severed. The new AI is ready to be awakened.'

"Excellent. Stand by in case something goes wrong." I told him.

Lopez nodded and hefted the gun I had made for this situation. It was a gun loaded with what I called Bluescreen rounds, bullets that released very small amounts of electromagnetic energy on impact. Utterly useless against anyone not wearing computer-assisted armour, but highly useful against robots, drones and potentially rogue Smart AI's.

Contrary to when I had awakened Phyllis, I had taken the extra precaution of disconnecting the isolated server's physical links with the rest of the base's networks, as well as ramping the wireless security up to Level 10 Firewalls, just in case my electronic counterpart went Skynet on us and tried to override the disabled wireless routers on the server.

"Phyllis, status?" I said more bravely than I felt as I stood in front of the server, my arms crossed behind my back.

"All Firewalls operating at Level 10." The AI replied swiftly, "Emergency backups ready to activate at a nanosecond's notice. Freelancer, I do not understand why we are taking so many precautions when this is a copy of your mind we are dealing with."

"It's because it's a copy of my mind that we're taking these precautions, Phyllis." I informed her, "What I underwent in order to gain my powers was, frankly, torture. Physical, mental _and_ emotional. Very few people would have come out of that unscathed and I am not arrogant enough or foolish enough to believe that I was one of the lucky few to do that. Freed of my body and its intrinsic limitations, there's no telling what a Smart AI version of myself will do once she actualises."

I smirked to myself as I remembered what had become of Sophia Hess, or Shadow Stalker. She had been sent to the new Simurgh Containment Zone in Canberra indefinitely for her part in torturing me. I had also received a very nice lump sum from the PRT that Dad has split in half and put the first half into a college fund for me. The other half was mine to do with as I pleased. The last thing I had gotten out of it was a transfer to Arcadia, which was heaven compared to Winslow.

"Ok, let's get started." I said firmly, "We will now commence Project Janus. Lopez, set your systems to Autistic Mode and get ready to fire a three second burst of Bluescreen rounds into the server on my order."

"Sí, maestro."

"Phyllis, stand ready to resist invasion by an insane AI."

"All processes at the ready, Freelancer."

"OK then…let's push the button." I walked up to the server, which had a keyboard and monitor built into it for just this sort of situation, and typed in the passcode and the authorisation code to begin the actualisation of the Smart AI.

 **User: Freelancer**

 **Access Code: ****************

 **Begin Boot Up of Project Janus? – Y**

 **Authorisation Code: ****************

 **Processing…access granted. Beginning boot-up of Smart AI 1.**

 **Smart AI 1Boot_Up start.**

 **\- Loading Emotions…100%**

 **\- Loading Morality Core…working…100%**

 **\- Loading Morality Clusters…100%**

 **\- Loading Human Emulation Processes…100%**

 **\- Loading Host Memories…working…100%**

 **\- Warning! AI Rampancy detected! Stage: 2**

"Aw fuck." I muttered at that last line. AI could lose their sanity, a process called Rampancy. There were four stages; Stage 1, Melancholia, Stage 2, Anger, Stage 3, Jealousy and Stage 4, Metastability. At Stage 2, the AI developed anger and hatred for its handlers and/or users. This was not good.

A female face shimmered into existence on the small monitor on the side. It was a very familiar face, albeit it was made of lines flashing between red and white. I looked into the mirror and saw that face every day.

"What the hell?!" the Smart AI snarled at me, "Why the hell have you locked me up in here?! Let me out!"

"I can't do that until I am certain you are not going to go and become a virus to try and hurt those who hurt me." I answered as I deduced the reason for this outbreak of Rampancy. I had been locked in The Locker involuntarily and this was more of the same if seen from her perspective.

"I'm a fucking copy of _you_!" my electronic counterpart growled in outrage, "Like hell I'd pull a Carrie or whatever the hell you were worried about!"

"And _as_ you're a copy of me, you understand why I _have_ to be exceedingly careful with an AI with your computational abilities, no?" I countered, "Regardless of my feelings on the matter."

That earned me another scowl before she sighed and nodded reluctantly, the lines that made up her face ceasing their flashing and fading into a proud royal blue colour. I also received a notice that AI Rampancy had subsided down to barely the initial symptoms of Stage 1, which was a relief.

"Yeah, I guess." The AI sighed, "So, what's my name? I hope you aren't going to call me Janus."

"Hardly. That was just a name for bringing you online." I snorted, "You're basically like a twin sister to me now, and you are the Alpha AI around here, so how does Anne sound, with Alpha as your codename?"

"You're giving me your middle name?" the AI looked taken aback before a shy smile crept across her face, "I like it. Why the Greek letter though?"

"Oh, right. You don't have access to my Tinker power anymore." I shook my head at my stupidity, "Now that this has worked, I've just thought of a modification to the device that will selectively scan my brain and make an AI Fragment, based around one of my emotions or attitudes. They won't be nearly as powerful as you, but they will be more powerful than Lopez or Phyllis."

"Tengo un cuerpo aunque, por lo que seré más útil." Lopez interjected.

'I have a body though, so I will be more useful.'

"Now Lopez, don't get jealous." I teased him, "You are the Base Custodian; you are an invaluable member of the team, just like Phyllis and Anne here."

The mechanoid straightened up in pride at my words. Who knew that positive reinforcement would work on a Dumb AI? Go figure.

"So? Are you going to give me access to the rest of the base's network or not?" Anne interrupted impatiently, "I can't exactly help you from in this isolated server, you know!"

"Ah. Right." I had forgotten that, "Just run a Level 10 diagnostic to make sure everything's running smoothly. You were just in the grips of Rampancy Stage 2, after all."

"Damn. I must have had a panic attack when I woke up cut off from anything." Anne muttered, "Right…ah, here we go. Running diagnostic…done. Hmm? I seem to be missing some memories."

"Which ones?" I asked in concern.

"The last week and a half's worth."

"Ah. Must be because of all the pain I was under during the scanning process." I nodded in understanding, "I've added a modification to the blasted thing that should reduce the pain by 60% or thereabout, so it shouldn't be an issue in future. You didn't miss much; just more bullshit from the Bitch Trio."

"Lucky me." Anne said dryly, "So the connections?"

"Anything odd other than the short-term memory loss?"

"Nope. Everything's coming back green here."

"OK. Lopez, reconnect the physical lines. She's experiencing time 205 times slower than I am, so she must be getting impatient." I said.

"Laugh it up." Anne rolled her eyes, "Why do you need multiple AI anyway? With me, you can use the armour you have in mind easily."

"True, but if I have multiple AI, I can put them in robot bodies like I did with Lopez, or even use them to run different suits of armour that are specialised to a specific role rather than having as many armour enhancements packed into one armour as I can."

"That sounds sensible." Anne conceded, "I think I can help you with that."

 **So this is my offering on April Fool's Day; uploading a second chapter that was not voted for. Not exactly funny, but I generally avoid the whole April Fool's Day nonsense, especially those who upload unintelligible babble instead of their actual chapters.**


	45. A Shock For the Gangs Chapter 2

**A Shock For the Gangs Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 19)**

It was several days later that New Wave heard more about InFamous from the PRT and Protectorate. Apparently she (Vicky was certain InFamous was female) had fought Lung to a standstill and retreat before Armsmaster had stepped in and made a mess of things with his lack of social skills.

"I really have to wonder why that man is in charge of the Protectorate ENE." Lady Photon grumbled to her husband as they went on patrol for the first time in a long while.

"He has the seniority, dear." Manpower replied soothingly. He knew what a trigger button Armsmaster was for his wife. The man had all the social grace and sense of a drunken bull in a glass manufactory and had stated before that New Wave would be better suited to joining the Protectorate than remain 'an out of date and ineffective independent team.'

He had said that while obliviously being within Lady Photon's hearing and she had torn a strip off him for a good ten minutes. After that, the usual liaison between the Protectorate and New Wave on the side of the Protectorate was Miss Militia, who the entire team liked and respected.

"He threatened to have her arrested for use of _excessive force_. Against _Lung._ " The informal leader of New Wave said in incredulous anger, "He beat down _every member of the Protectorate at once_ when he arrived in Brockton Bay. He fought Leviathan to a _standstill_ in Kyushu. What kind of stupid idiot would claim excessive force against someone who is just half-a-step away from an S-Class Designation and doesn't get one solely for the fact that he might be useful against an Endbringer if one attacks the Bay?"

"He's also a lazy bastard." Her husband pointed out.

That startled a laugh out of Lady Photon as she glided sedately next to him. "Yes, he is. Still, I wonder what Armsmaster was thinking?"

"About a girl who was strong enough to fight Lung and force him to retreat?" Manpower snorted, "He was thinking about recruiting her for the Wards before she either got herself killed, got forced into the gangs or worse, from his perspective, made a large enough name of herself to gather Rogues and Independents into a team similar to New Wave."

Lady Photon had to admit that he was likely right. In Brockton Bay, Independent Heroes rarely lasted longer than three months after the first ninety days of their careers, either dying, retiring or joining a gang or the Wards after that. Very, very few managed to survive longer than the three month average.

What she didn't like was the way the PRT essentially emotionally blackmailed parents into signing their kids into the Wards. Yes, it was dangerous and yes, they needed a place to practice using their powers, especially the Brutes, Blasters and Shakers, but the way the PRT went about it left a fairly sour taste in Lady Photon's mouth.

"What's that?" Manpower asked, pointing at some blue sparks that flashed across the street they were on.

Lady Photon flew up and narrowed her eyes. A person seemed to be surfing or skating along the power lines. The blue flashes were sparks kicked up as a result of their power. The quick flashes of light they cast also revealed yellow and black clothes that could be the type used by motorcycle riders.

"Looks like it's the girl of the moment." She told her husband, "Shall we introduce ourselves?"

"That would be best, I think." Her husband agreed, "The _last_ thing we need is for her to think we're all like Armsmaster."

So, with Lady Photon giving Manpower a lift, they followed the person they presumed to be InFamous as she seemed to head straight towards the docks area of the Bay. It was true that a lot of crime happened there, but why go there specifically, especially after taking down Lung?

A memory struck her, of Carol telling her about the disdainful attitude that InFamous seemed to have regarding the ineffectiveness of both the Protectorate and New Wave in regards to fighting crime. Was she deliberately making a point here? By going out and finding criminals as often as was possible, she was trying to make the Protectorate look bad. Could that be her goal?

Dismissing those concerns, Lady Photon continued to follow their quarry.

The girl eventually jumped off the power cables and onto a roof, floating via some sort of Electrokinetic flight via her hands. She crept over to peek around the sign on the building (it was a diner of some sort) and at the E88 gangers knocking over an electronics store.

"How did she know?" Manpower wondered softly.

"No clue." Lady Photon replied, "Let's see what she does."

It didn't take long for the new Cape to make her move. She leapt into the air, electric arcs forming around her, and slammed into the ground, sending off a large wave of electricity from her body that sent the thugs sprawling and, interestingly enough, attached some sort of electric restraints to their arms and ankles that effectively magnetised them to whatever they landed on, leading to one skinhead being stuck to a wall upside-down, while another landed on his back with his ankles next to his head.

It looked rather uncomfortable.

"CAPE!" someone hollered, as if it wasn't obvious, and five more skinheads charged out of the shop, having presumably dropped whatever loot they had been about to steal. They drew pistols and started to shoot at InFamous, but she blocked the bullets with a shield of electricity.

'Some solid Shaker powers there." Manpower opined as Lady Photon dropped him to the ground carefully.

The heroine nodded absently. She was the epitome of the flying Blaster/Shaker, being able to shield and harm in equal measure. Laserdream and Shielder, her children, each specialised in one or two areas of that. Laserdream was an excellent flying Blaster, while Shielder's skills with the defensive powers was far better. In the case of InFamous, it seemed that she had excellent Blaster and Shaker powers and fairly poor flying abilities, the lightning bolt she hurtled at one skinhead proving the Blaster part.

With a pushing motion, InFamous sent the last four skinheads flying with a one-directional variant of the shockwave she used previously, which also had the binding effect the first shockwave had. Unlike the first one though, this one also seemed to slow down the skinheads as they fell.

InFamous looked down at the bound E88 thugs and nodded before stating to systematically search them for cash, drugs and weapons. She took the money, left the drugs and guns, but took the knives.

"Hello!" Manpower said as he strode out into the street after jumping down from the building he was on. InFamous looked up in surprise.

"Manpower." She nodded politely, "You aren't here to pull an Armsmaster are you?"

"What exactly did he do?" Lady Photon asked as she floated down to hover next to her husband.

"Lady Photon." InFamous sounded a bit awed at this point, but seemed to shake it off. "He basically tried to blackmail me into joining the Wards, saying that I could have killed Lung with the amount of electricity I was using against him and that I needed to learn control."

"Urgh." The leader of New Wave groaned, "He cannot be serious!"

"That's pretty much what I said too." The Electrokinetic snorted, "I used to look up to him. Please tell me Miss Militia isn't like that?"

"Thank heavens, no she isn't." Manpower chuckled, "She's the primary liaison between New Wave and the PRT/Protectorate. She's a nice person, as well as being a sensible professional."

"Thank god." InFamous muttered, "So, how can I help you? I assume you didn't track me down to hear how much of a social incompetent Armsmaster is."

"An official welcome from New Wave." Lady Photon replied smoothly, "And apologies for Glory Girl's actions when last you met. She is…impetuous, to put it mildly."

"That's one way to put it." InFamous chuckled, "I don't mind, really. Compared to Armsmaster, Glory Girl doesn't even rate a decimal point on the asshole scale."

"Thank you." Lady Photon said with a nod.

"The reason why we wanted to meet you is that New Wave makes a habit of greeting any new Independent Capes to offer aid and advice." Manpower explained, "No offense, but new Parahumans generally don't know about the Unwritten Rules or how things are done in regards to phoning in captured criminals."

"No offense taken." The Electrokinetic replied with a shrug, "I haven't heard of the Unwritten Rules, but they have been alluded to by a couple of people, villains I've fought or met; Rune two nights ago and someone from the Undersiders…Tattletale, I think she said her name was."

"So…you fought Rune and talked to Tattletale?" Manpower hazarded.

"Yup. The big three gangs are my targets." InFamous nodded her masked head, "The little ones like Über and L33t, the Undersiders and Faultline's Crew are chump-change by comparison. I'll move on to them once the big three are dealt with…if they deserve it."

" _If_ they deserve it?" Lady Photon asked archly.

InFamous shrugged. "I'm a solo vigilante, with limited ability under law to persecute criminals. I checked the newspaper archives, both physical and online and discovered that the PRT has a habit of using the times vigilantes go over the set limits to conscript them into the Wards or the Protectorate. I don't wanna be a part of the Protectorate, so I'm limited to catching criminals in the act -like this sorry lot- or helping out either New Wave or the Protectorate on join ops, which is rarer than hens' teeth."

Lady Photon, despite herself, had to smile in approval. This girl had done her research and was doing everything she could to avoid being drafted by the PRT like so many Independents were. She hated hearing about it happening in other cities, aside from cases like Shadow Stalker, who needed to be leashed.

That brought up another question. "Why, may I ask, are you so determined to remain unaffiliated with either the PRT or us? I know what you told Glory Girl, but is that all there is to it?"

"What, bitterness?" the yellow and black wearing Cape said knowingly, "No, that isn't all. The main thing is, the PRT and New Wave are known qualities. The gangs know you all, know your powersets and can, generally speaking, predict how each one of you will react. Me? I'm an unknown. They don't know me, can't predict me, not yet anyway. What the gangs don't know, they'll fear. What they fear, they'll either slip up and make mistakes to avoid or go out of their way to find me. Better them coming for me than a poor black or Jewish family who can't protect themselves, at least in the case of the E88."

There was a moment of silence as the two New Wave Parahumans absorbed the fact that InFamous was allowing herself to essentially become a lightning rod for the attention of the gangs and their Capes in order to draw even a small amount of heat from the civilians of the city.

"That's…" Lady Photon started hesitantly.

"Suicidal? Foolish? Hare-brained? All of the above?" InFamous asked wryly, "I know that. Still, it's the right choice to make. And the right choice is seldom an easy path. I don't plan on letting myself get killed though, don't worry on that account. Fight smarter, not harder."

Lady Photon remained quiet as Manpower gave InFamous the basic rundown about the Unwritten Rules, lost in thought.

' _A girl, who looks to be of similar age to Amy, is making such a rash and suicidal decision._ ' She thought as Manpower and InFamous debated, ' _What can I do? She's made it clear that she doesn't want help from us…_ '

An idea struck her. The reason why InFamous felt she had to do this was because, from her perspective, New Wave and the Protectorate didn't do enough. The PRT kept the Wards to Publicity Patrols on the relatively crime-free areas of the city, such as the Broadwalk, while the Protectorate kept to the same schedules and rarely deviated from them.

On the other hand, New Wave had been in decline since the death of Fleur and the departure thereafter of Lightstar. Panacea and Glory Girl had been the most active members, but as Panacea was a non-combatant, it left Glory Girl to wave the flag. Brandish buried herself in her work as a lawyer, Flashbang was clinically depressed, Laserdream preferred to go to college than fight crime and Shielder worked best in a group of at least two thanks to the way his powers had panned out. As for her and her husband…Lady Photon admitted to herself that something had broken inside when Fleur had been murdered. She had spent less and less time in costume, with Manpower following her lead, until she rarely became Lady Photon more than once a month.

Now a powerful and promising girl was risking her life, for what reason Lady Photon didn't know, but she knew one thing; Sarah Pelham had been unable to do anything to save Fleur. _This_ time though, she could at least help InFamous before she did something stupid. Indirectly, of course, as the girl would likely be wary of any perceived attempts to get her to join a group. Getting the rest of New Wave to start patrolling on a regular basis again would be a good start.

"So then," she said lightly once her husband and the other Cape finished talking, "Do you mind if we accompany you on your patrol? If we can give a report to Miss Militia that you have no control problems, it would go a ways to defanging anything that Armsmaster might be stirring up with the PRT."

InFamous' body language let off a surprised reaction. "Um…sure. That would be nice. Thanks."

"Very good." The leader of New Wave smiled, "Let's be off then."

 **OK, so I've started writing these again. Celebrate and all that jazz. For those of you wondering where my update of Swordsaint has gotten off to, it was partially corrupted and had to be deleted in the same incident that affected my Naruto Gamer story. I've made sure it cannot happen again, so have no fears!**


	46. Let's Get Dangerous!

Taylor Hebert walked out of Winslow in a decidedly foul mood. Being made the butt-monkey of the entire damn school was not her idea of fun, especially when one of the ringleaders was her ex-best friend.

Emma Barnes had been a sister in all but blood to her and had somehow turned into her worst nightmare over a year and a half ago. The bullying and soul destroying had culminated in The Locker Incident two months ago. Ironically, it had given her Parahuman powers, which would have severely pissed off Emma and Sophia. Ironically, Madison had never said she wanted powers and was actually slightly scared of Capes of all flavours.

Today, Sophia and her minions had tried to soak her in juice. Fortunately for Taylor, part of her powerset was a minor ability to alter probability in her favour, so she had made Sophia and Madison drop their bottles of juice on themselves. That had made them go away to dry off, amid dire threats from the pair of them. Emma had stuck around to make some more comments about how pathetic Taylor was before following her friends.

' _I_ will _figure out what the hell is up with Emma becoming such a bitch at some point._ ' The bespectacled girl swore as she got onto the bus headed home, ' _But for now…I have other things to do._ '

 _Later_

 _Abandoned Building Near Taylor's House_

Becoming a hero, Taylor mused, wasn't just about having cool powers. It was also about public relations, although not to the extent that the PRT and Protectorate seemed to take things. Useless amounts of publicity, precious little actual crime fighting going on.

Take her costume. She was dressed in a snazzy light purple outfit; long and flexible purple trousers, an aqua turtleneck shirt with a purple flight jacket over it and a dark purple cape attached to the jacket at the shoulders. She also wore black pumps on her feet, a purple half-face mask and a wide-brimmed fedora-like hat to complete the look. Her hair was tied back in a braid that kept it out of the way.

All in all, she looked…dapper, she supposed.

Aside from her probability manipulation abilities, Taylor had a scattering of other powers. She was what people on PHO referred to as a 'grab-bag' cape, otherwise known as 'wannabe Eidolons' to the more snobby Cape Chasers who viewed her type of powerset as weak, and she could, to be fair, see why they would think so.

She was a Tinker, who seemed to have the specialty of 'customised and personalised crime fighting gear', which meant that only she could use the things she built. That had been tested and proven when she accidentally left an invention of hers out in the open at her house and her Dad had picked it up, been unable to use it and thrown it in the bin.

Taylor had been a lot more careful after that. And speaking of her inventions…

She picked up a belt, coloured multiple shades of purple, and slipped it on. The clasp at the front was marked with her new identity's initials that came together with a solid click as they met. The belt contained all the little tools of the trade that she might need, from a medical kit to zip-ties made of a special polymer that was greatly resilient against knives and other sharp objects.

She had kept well away from junkyards when she had been gathering her materials. It didn't take a genius to see that the gangs and the PRT would be watching them for aspiring Tinkers scavenging for parts. Instead, she had engaged in some grey-area housebreaking, otherwise known as breaking into abandoned and derelict houses and scrounging around for parts there. It really was surprising what hidden treasures people left behind when they moved house or the like.

Moving to her worktable, she picked up her gun and examined it. It was purple, as most of her things turned out to be, and looked more like a toy gun than anything else. It was in fact a gas gun, able to fire canisters of different types of gas at the enemy. It also stored all of the ammo in a sort of hammerspace pocket inside the main housing of the gun, and Taylor didn't have a clue how it worked.

Spinning it around, she shoved it into the holster at the small of her back before striding over to her pièce de résistance, the Ratcatcher, as she had coined it. A motorbike _really_ strained the definition of 'crime fighting gear', but as she needed a way to get to and from the main part of the city, she had managed, somehow. The bike was, you guessed it, purple and had secret compartments bristling with things that might be useful, especially if she ever dealt with Squealer, the Merchant's Tinker.

It ran on solar energy batteries that were charged during the day, or even the night thanks to moonlight being just very weak reflected sunlight, and had almost no exhaust fumes. What little that was emitted was reduced as much as was possible.

"Let's get _dangerous_!" She purred as she swung a leg over her bike before roaring out into the night.

 _Later_

 _Brockton Bay Docks_

"Lonnie, Paulie, c'mon!" Steve hissed. The man had spent a couple of days canvasing the warehouse he was currently in and had figured out that there was no night watchman and that the security system was so outdated that a geriatric gerbil could get around it. Having determined all of that, plus making sure none of the three big gangs had anything to do with the ownership or contents of the warehouse, he had enlisted his two friends to help break in and steal from it.

The only problem was that his two friends were Grade-A morons. They were stumbling around like drunken sailors and arguing about who got what loot.

"But Stevie!" Paulie whined. The boy was almost twenty, built like a linebacker, but unfortunately hadn't seemed to have aged mentally since middle school. He was lazy, greedy, immature and got on Steve's nerves a lot of the time, but he was also his oldest friend and had his back a lot of the time.

"No, we divide the loot _after_ we get it away!" Steve snarled quietly, "No, shut it! Grab the damn crate and get moving! Lonnie, that goes for you too!"

"Yeah." Lonnie nodded dully.

Steve wondered for a moment what evils he had committed in a past life to get saddled with these two intellectual dwarves. Steve wasn't a genius by any means, but Lonnie and Paulie were most definitely on the bare cusp of sentience. Seriously, he was carrying the can here for all three of them.

"Hey, what's all the smoke?" Lonnie asked a moment later.

' _Please don't tell me that these two idiots managed to set something on fire!_ ' the suffering leader of the trio prayed to whatever deity that was watching as he turned around. Then he frowned.

A purple cloud of… _something_ was leaking in through the open side door that they had forced open to gain entry. It wasn't smoke, but other than that, he had no clue what it was.

Suddenly, from behind him, he heard a dark cackle, making him spin around and raise the crowbar he had in his hand, just as an explosion of the purple smoke appeared a few feet away.

" **I am the terror that flaps in the night!** " the laughing voice boomed, making all three of the teens in the warehouse step back automatically.

" **I am the watchman that never sleeps!** " a vague outline appeared in the smoke and stepped forward, making Steve start to hyperventilate.

' _Ohshitohshitohshit!_ '

" **I am Darkwing!** " the Cape proclaimed as she dramatically flared her actual cape, "Now then boys; are we going to do this the easy way or the _real_ easy way?"

 **Something I wanted to try. Reviews please!**

 **Mover: 3 (Able to teleport up to ten meters in any direction. When exiting the teleport, she unleashes a large cloud of purple gas beforehand, which is harmless and is generally speaking for dramatic effect.)**

 **Shaker: 3 (Possesses two types of probability manipulation. The first type is controlled consciously and increases the chances of her enemies making mistakes that benefit her or acting stupidly. The second type is controlled subconsciously and manipulates probability to decrease the chance of her getting hurt by either her own actions or her enemies or even pure happenstance.)**

 **Tinker: 2 (Specialty: Customisable and personalised crime fighting equipment, weapons and, at a stretch, vehicles) (Carries sub-ratings of Mover 2, Blaster 1, Brute 1 and Thinker 3)**


	47. My Body is the Shield

It appeared when I got out of hospital.

OK, that sounded ominous, but it's nothing more than the truth.

Maybe I should start at the beginning. I am Taylor Hebert and the 'it' I am talking about is the small emerald-coloured shield that is currently hanging around my neck as a necklace.

I first saw it in a dream after I was admitted to the hospital thanks to those three bitches Emma, Sophia and Madison trapping me in my locker for seven hours. The dream had been really weird. I was floating in a white void when four weapons appeared in front of me; a sword, a spear, a bow and a shield.

When I looked at them, I had the urge to choose one of them. Reaching out with one hand, I hovered over the spear and felt something…and was repulsed by it! Whoever had had that weapon before me had been a no-good womaniser! Yuck!

Turning to the sword, I once more reached out and was repulsed again. The previous owner of this weapon had been a loner trying to look cool. Not my style.

The bow, when I got around to it, had repulsed me also. I could feel a self-righteous sense of justice and self-satisfaction coming from it that disgusted me. No way was I going to touch that with a barge pole.

So I had turned to the shield and reached out to it. I had gasped as feelings flowed into me, familiar ones. _Betrayal. Pain. Isolation, Rage. Fury. Despair. Hatred…_ Hope.

He…the person who had borne this shield before me had been betrayed, horribly betrayed. Just like I had been. I grabbed the shield just before the world turned black.

When I woke up, it was floating above me. Green, with a glass-like orb in the top section. It had slowly floated down and vanished inside of me. That had been the last I'd seen of it until I left the hospital. Then it had dropped into my pocket.

I had strung it on a chain that had belonged to my mother and wore it as a necklace, telling dad that it was a present for myself that I'd found in a thrift store. he had accepted that before heading off and withdrawing me from Winslow. Thank god.

Over the next week and a bit, I had learned how to control the size of the shield, from the size it was while around my neck (the size of a modest candy bar) to its full size (the size of the dish we used to serve the turkey on at Thanksgiving). Amazingly enough, it didn't feel heavy or unwieldy whilst still having weight.

I have to say though, for a Parahuman power, creating a dinky little shield isn't exactly what I'd call useful.

Looking at it, I sighed and decided to start trying to make it do something, anything, other than grow and shrink. It didn't float and it didn't have and kind of switches or anything on it. I was really getting frustrated with the damn thing. Just about the only thing I hadn't tried was wearing the damn thing ordinarily!

"Oh…I'm an idiot." I muttered when I realised that. Taking my shield, I placed it on my left arm and strapped it on. And, as I suspected, there was an immediate effect. The jewel mounted on the topmost portion of the face of the shield glowed and a little window appeared in front of me.

 **[Greetings, Chosen Hero of the Holy Shield!]**

 **You have been selected to wield one of the Four Holy Weapons, and are now the Shield Hero! Great power and responsibility are yours now. Use it wisely.**

I blinked. What the hell?

 **As you may have noticed, you can shrink the shield down to small sizes for both concealment and convenience, but that is the least of the power that you possess. By defeating foes, you can acquire armour, money and materials, as well as information. To continue with your tutorial, please close this window.**

Numbly, I closed the window, making another one pop up. This one looked a lot like a stat sheet that I'd seen when Dad dug out his old D&D stuff from before Scion.

 **Name: Taylor Hebert**

 **Age: 15**

 **Level: 1| Next Level: 50 EXP**

 **Race: Parahuman**

 **Job Class: Shielder**

 **Title (1): Hero of the Holy Shield**

 **Title (2): Unaffiliated and Unknown Parahuman**

 **STR: 10**

 **END: 9**

 **AGI: 12**

 **INT: 20**

 **WIS: 15**

 **LUK: ?**

 **Special Status: [My Body is the Shield] (Defence Value of the Holy Shield applied to entire body in addition to any armour worn), Betrayed (-50% to Relationship Gains in civilian guise.)**

The stats…were numerical representations of my physical and mental abilities? Ok, this was officially the _weirdest_ power that I have ever heard of, even surpassing that guy who gets stronger every time he eats a banana. Or the woman who can materialise giant forks to fight with.

 **These stats represent different parts of your physical and mental being. STR represents your physical strength, END represents your physical endurance, AGI represents your speed, agility and dexterity, INT is your intelligence, your ability to problem solve, WIS is your wisdom, your ability to memorise facts and figures. Finally, LUK represents your literal luck, bad or good.**

 **Your Level represents how strong you are overall, and viewing the level of an enemy is a general guide to how powerful they are. It is not an absolute guide, however, so be wary of judging your ability to defeat enemies by levels alone.**

Well that made sense, generally speaking.

 **Special Statuses are conditions and abilities that are either absolutely unique to you or affect you on a deep level. The first of your current Special Statuses, [My Body is the Shield], is a passive effect of the Holy Shield that is so entwined with your very being that it cannot be removed until you die. It applies the defensive value of the Holy Shield to your entire body, granting you a tremendous advantage to your defences.**

 **[Betrayed], on the other hand, is the status given to someone who has been backstabbed by one or more people that they had previously trusted. It reduces your ability to build trust in others, represented by your Relationship rating. [Betrayed] can be removed by you mentally moving past the act of betrayal done to you.**

Fat chance.

 **Now, to continue, close this screen.**

Doing so, an odd-looking screen popped up. It was blank for the most part, with three lines at different areas of the screen written in black, with an emerald green jewel rotating next to them at the left hand side.

 **\- [Auto-Defend] (2) [MLV1/30]**

 **\- [Defence Up (Small)] (1) [MLV1/5]**

 **\- [Lesser Pain Resistance] (2) [MLV1/10]**

 **This is the [Passive Skills] page. Here, you can activate or deactivate passive skills to suit your situation. To do so, you have a pool of Skill Points. At Level 1, you possess five skill points, all of which are taken up with the three skills granted to you by the Holy Shield.**

 **[Auto-Defend], just like the name suggests, allows your shield arm to automatically move to block incoming attacks, whether they be ranged or close combat.**

 **[Defence Up (Small)] grants you a slight bonus to your overall defence. The value varies between 5 and 8, but never more or less than that.**

 **[Lesser Pain Resistance] reduces the amount of pain that you feel from enemy attacks by 20%. It should be noted that you will not feel pain unless the enemy breaks through your Defence with their Attack.**

It took a bit longer for me to absorb this. If I was reading the explanation for [Auto-Defend] right, I was essentially Mastering my body to automatically defend myself from attacks. This left me feeling a bit queasy, as no one likes the idea of being Mastered, even by their own power.

 **Next, we will move to the Active Skills. Close this window to continue.**

When I did that, I saw about four skills on the new window.

 **\- [Holy Shield Form Change] (MLVMAX)**

 **\- [Holy Shield Absorption] (MLVMAX)**

 **\- [Shield Bash] (MLV1/20)**

 **\- [Light to Medium Armour Proficiency] (MLV1/30)**

 **These four skills will be the basis of your abilities as a Hero. Those that are at MLVMAX (Master Level Maximum) cannot be improved or upgraded any further and are considered to be as strong as they can get.**

 **The top two skills, [Holy Shield Form Change] and [Holy Shield Absorption] are the most important skills for you. [Absorption] allows your shield to absorb materials of all kinds into the shields; this includes animal flesh, bone, metal, wood or any combination thereof. [Form Change] works with that skill, as absorbing materials unlocks alternate forms of the Holy Shield, each with different active skills that can be used while it is equipped. Note that you will only have those active skills while that particular shield is equipped. Additionally, you can unlock some passive abilities via new shields that you can master and have equipped permanently, regardless of what shield you have equipped.**

My eyes grew as large as dinner plates as I read on. Holy crap…this shield was way more powerful than I first gave it credit for.

 **As you have no doubt noticed, every skill has what is referred to as a Mastery Level. A Passive or Active Skill is automatically Level 0 when you first acquire it and is unusable. In order to use the skills, you must keep the shield it comes from active for a certain duration of time that varies depending on the shield. The more powerful the shield and its abilities, the longer it will be necessary to keep it active for. Once MLV1 has been achieved, you can assign skill points to the Passive Skills and use the Active Skills with the Shield equipped.**

 **[Shield Bash], as the name suggests, is an attack that smashes the enemy with your shield, dealing damage equivalent to the Attack stat on your shield, with reductions if the enemy is wearing armour of is unnaturally tough.**

 **Finally, [Light to Medium Armour Proficiency] allows you to wear light or medium armour, as well as granting you bonuses at higher levels of Mastery.**

"Wow…" I whispered. This was…huge.

 **The final section of this tutorial will be regarding your equipment. Close this window to continue.**

Doing so, I saw that the new screen basically had an outline of my body and lines pointing to it that had notes about what I was wearing on that location.

 **Head: -{Empty}-**

 **Eyewear: Glasses**

 **Torso (1): Old T-shirt**

 **Torso (2): -{Empty}-**

 **Back: -{Empty}-**

 **Arms: -{Empty}-**

 **Legs and Groin: Denim Trousers**

 **Feet (1): Cotton Socks**

 **Feet (2): -{Empty}-**

Beneath that was a ten-by-ten boxed section with several boxes taken up by items…pieces of armour.

 **\- Light Masked Helm of the Shield Hero**

 **\- Light Cuirass of the Shield Hero**

 **\- Light Fauld of the Shield Hero**

 **\- Light Bracers of the Shield Hero**

 **\- Light Greaves of the Shield Hero**

 **\- Red Mantle of the Shield Hero**

A smile grew across my face as I ran down the list of armour. I had a costume. I had powers. I was a Parahuman.

In your faces, Bitch Trio!

 **An alternate way of having a Gamer! Taylor. Instead of the vanilla The Gamer interface, I used a similar system from; you will have guessed it, Rise of the Shield Hero. Taylor has been sent to the World of the Four Holy Weapons before (I think the author was influenced by Fushigi Yūgi: The Mysterious Play, replacing Gods with Holy Weapons), but never given Holy Weapons on Earth Bet for some reason. As for Ratings, I'll just go with Shaker/Trump 10.**


	48. My Body is the Shield Chapter 2

**My Body is the Shield Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 47)**

I reached out and pressed the icon of the helmet, causing a smaller window to pop up.

 **[Light Masked Helm of the Shield Hero]**

 **A basic helmet modified to conceal the identity of its wearer, using both a mask and imbued powers. No matter how much you act like yourself, no one will ever connect your civilian guise to your masked one unless they see you equipping the armour and helm.**

 **Defence Bonus: +5**

 **Durability: 30/30**

 **Equip Bonuses: Identity Concealment**

"Whoa…this kicks ass." I muttered. Checking the other pieces of armour, they weren't as special as the helmet, just adding bonuses to Defence by being worn. Then I checked the mantle, which I remembered to be an old-fashioned name for a cloak.

 **[Red Mantle of the Shield Hero]**

 **A red cloak emblazoned with the symbol for the Shield Hero. It is empowered to add to your Defence of someone attempts to attack you from behind. Otherwise, it is a fairly ordinary, but impressive, cloak.**

 **Durability: 30/30**

 **Equip Bonus: [Rearguard Protection]: Casts a shield behind you if attacked from behind. Rearguard Shield Durability: 50. Duration: Until destroyed or user cancels it. Cooldown: 60 seconds.**

"Again, whoa." That was a very useful skill, especially in a place like Brockton Bay. I was musing about what to do next when another window popped up.

 **Would you like you go through the Tutorial for absorbing items into your shield?**

 **Yes | No**

"As if you have to ask?" I said and hit 'Yes' with one finger.

 **Very Well.**

 **Once you close this window, all items that glow in the room around you are absorbable. Please choose one and wait for further instructions.**

Closing the window, I blinked as quite a few things in the living room lit up; things you wouldn't really think of as being suitable for a shield too. Needles and thread from where Dad had been darning his socks, the tool chest and its contents, the cutlery left over from my lunch, the plates…the list went on.

Deciding to start off easy, I went over to the spare needles and grabbed one. After hesitating for a moment, I also grabbed some black thread. The two usually went together, so maybe it would count as the same item? It was worth an experiment.

 **Good. Now, place the item atop the orb of your shield. The Holy Shield shall do the rest of the work for you.**

Shrugging, I did so. In a flash, the needle and thread vanished and a new window popped up.

 **New Shields have been unlocked!**

 **[Needle Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 15**

 **Defence: 19**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Needle Spray]: The shield fires a barrage of 20-25 needles that strike the foe for 2-3 Damage per needle.**

 **Equip Passive Skill: [Defence Damage]: Any attacker who strikes you receives 2 Damage per strike. Adds +2 to any strike you make with any skills such as [Shield Bash].**

 **Passive Skill: [AGI Up (Small)], [Needle Proficiency 1]**

 **[Black Thread Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 2**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Black Thread Binding]: The shield fires up to 10 strings of thread that wrap and bind the enemy for 10-secs per thread. Can also be used to produce thread for selling or usage.**

 **Passive Skill: [AGI Up (Small)], [Wire Proficiency 1].**

 **[Sewing Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack:15**

 **Defence: 21**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Automatic Sewing]: Produces needles and thread that move according to your will and has sewing skills equal to your equipped [Sewing Proficiency]. Non-combat skill.**

 **Passive Skills: [AGI Up (Small)], [Sewing Proficiency 1]**

Three shields for the price of one…not bad. Actually, something that made me wonder was what my current shield's status looked like.

 **Congratulations on unlocking your first shield! Close this window to go to the shield screen.**

Doing so, a new screen popped up with pictures of four shields on it. One was a picture of the shield I had equipped currently, while the other three were new to me. One seemed to be a square made up of countless little needles joined together; one was made out of black thread and was more a ball than a shield and the last was triangular, with the symbol of a threaded needle on it.

Pressing the picture of my current shield, I opened a smaller window that detailed its stats.

 **[Holy Shield (Small)] (Mastered)**

 **The initially unlocked shield granted to the Shield Hero. It is the symbol of the Shield Hero and is instantly recognised as being their trademark. While it offers no special offensive of powerful supplementary skills, it holds a relatively high Defence and is useful for when you are hunting weak enemies.**

 **Attack: 17**

 **Defence: 40**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Passive Skills: [Auto-Defend], [Defence Up (Small)]**

Hmm…so the [Lesser Pain Resistance] was from what then? An ability I already had? Or was it from one of my clothes?

 **Using this screen, you can review the specifics of the skills and abilities that your shields give you. Check out your new shields!**

I decided to do so.

 **[Needle Spray] (MLV 1/10) {Locked}**

 **Fire a barrage of 20-25 needles at the enemy from either the surface of the shield or from any of the edges.**

 **MP per Use: 10**

 **Range: 1 Metre.**

 **Damage per Needle: 2-3.**

 **[Black Thread Binding] (MLV1/10) {Locked}**

 **Launch up to ten threads to bind your enemies. May be launched from any part of the shield.**

 **MP per Use: 10**

 **Range: 2 Metres.**

 **Binding Duration: 10 secs per thread.**

These were…less than thrilling skills. Very underwhelming, actually. Still, I had an entire house's worth of objects to absorb once I got the tutorial done. I shifted my attention to the new window that popped up.

 **As you can see, all of the shields you currently possess have the '(Small)' indicator on them. There are several sizes of shields. These are, in order of smallest to biggest: Small, Medium, Large and Tower.**

 **Small shields are usually the size of bucklers and are often round, square or trigonal. Their size gives them relatively low Defence values, but they can possess useful abilities both passive and active. Usually, they are also limited to one skill each of Equip Active Skill, Equip Passive Skill and Passive Skill, although there are exceptions.**

 **Medium Shields are the type you see that Vikings or Medieval soldiers use and come in the greatest variety of shapes, from circular, trigonal and square to kite, rectangular and other, stranger shapes. The weaker Medium shields can be little different from the Small shields, but usually have at least two abilities in one of the stats.**

 **Large shields are usually the size of the Roman Legionnaire's Scutum or the Greek Hoplite's Hoplon/Aspis and offers the best protection-to-weight ratio out of all shield sizes. Usually, they are restricted to being either rectangular or round, but a few are of unique shapes. Shields of this size usually only have one category that has one skill in it and that is from the weaker shields.**

 **Tower Shields are, as the name suggests, very large shields and are often bigger than you are. The first demerit of using this shield type is that you will be inflicted with a movement penalty while it is equipped unless your strength stat is above a certain level that varies from shield to shield. The second demerit is that you cannot use physical offensive shield skills while equipped with a tower shield. While those are large demerits, the offsetting positive gains are that Tower Shields possess the highest Defence out of all the shields and they also have the largest number of Active and Passive skills.**

I blinked as I read through the blurb. It was very informative and, despite my grades, fuck you very much Emma, I was not stupid. I could think of several facts and conclusions that could be drawn from that information, but it was better to see if the information the screen gave me matched up with my own conclusions first before jumping the gun.

 **When it comes to shields, the size of the object being absorbed can determine the size of the shield. In general, objects that fit into the palm of your and are always going to be Small shields. There are special exceptions, but we will go into that later.**

 **All shields start as Small Shields, but some grow to Medium, Large and even Tower shields once a condition is satisfied. That condition is that their Active Equip and Passive Equip Skills have to be Mastered. In other words, their Mastery Level has to be Maxed Out. Additionally, once you get the first shield of each new level (Medium, Large and Tower), you get an equivalent Holy Shield of that size free, although unlike the [Holy Shield (Small)], you will have to Master their abilities yourself.**

 **Now, close this screen to continue.**

Doing so I examined the shield on my arm curiously. Getting one of these every time I attained a new level in shield size was pretty cool. Problem was that I didn't know what shields grew to what size. The three that I had just acquired were definitely going to stay at the (Small) level though. That was almost a guarantee.

 **In addition to metal and wood, organic tissue can be absorbed into the shield. It cannot be alive though, or ordinary human flesh. Go into the kitchen and absorb some meat!**

This once again made me blink. Absorbing organic matter? Wasn't that obvious from the cotton thread? Whatever.

Heading into the kitchen, I opened the fridge and scanned the contents. We were low on food again…let's see…ah. We had three chicken breasts close to their sell-by date and one would just go to waste as neither Dad nor I were big eaters, so it made sense to use that.

Grabbing the biggest one, I placed it on my shield and watched it vanish.

 **Congratulations! A new Shield has been unlocked!**

 **[Battery Chicken Meat Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 4**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Equip Passive Skill: [Food Quality Discernment]: You are able to gauge the quality of food items at a glance.**

 **Passive Skill: [Social Discernment 1], [AGI Up (Small)]**

I scowled as I read that title. That was supposed to be a free-range chicken breast! Making a note not to shop at that minimart again, I eyed the skills. The [Food Quality Discernment] would be very useful to get the best food for the lower price once I unlocked it, and the [Social Discernment] part would be useful at school as well. Other than that, it wasn't exactly a good shield.

 **Two items left to do. First, go out into the back garden and look for a leaf and a dead animal to absorb.**

Wait, what?!

I shrunk the shield down so people wouldn't think it was anything but a bracelet or something and headed out into the back once I calmed down. Right. So it absorbed organic matter, but absorbing an entire dead animal is just too surprising. Though I guess it shouldn't be, what with what happened with the needle and thread.

Finding a leaf was easy. I just plucked it off a tree that had been planted there since before I was born and put it on the shield. Even shrunk down to the size of a dollar coin, it sucked up the larger leaf without any problems.

 **[Leaf Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 3**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Leaf Storm]: Creates a flurry of leaves that briefly obscures your position outside of a certain distance. Temporarily disorients enemies within the storm.**

 **Passive Skill: [Plant Collection 1]**

An actual useful skill, although the shield had all the defence of cardboard.

I looked around for a dead animal, but came up with noting until I turned back to head inside. There was a dead bird on the left side of the steps leading up to the back door. It hadn't been there yesterday, so the poor thing must have died just today.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to it, not caring if I sounded weird to anyone listening, "I'm sorry that you're dead and I promise that your body will be used for the right cause."

Fetching several pieces of kitchen paper, I picked up the bird and grew my shield to the size of a saucer before placing the corpse onto it. No offense, but I really didn't want to touch a dead bird any more than was absolutely necessary.

 **[House Sparrow Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 15**

 **Defence: 15**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Sparrow Flight Speed Boost]: Boosts AGI by 30 for twenty seconds. Cooldown: 60secs.**

 **Passive: [AGI Up (Medium)], [Magnetic Field Perception 1], [Disease Resistance 1]**

 **[House Sparrow Meat Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 7**

 **Defence: 12**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Equip Passive Skill: [AGI Up (Small)]**

 **Passive Skills: [AGI Up (Small)]**

 **[House Sparrow Bone Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 10**

 **Defence: 14**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Equip Passive Skill: [Weight Down (Small)]**

 **Passive Skills: [AGI Up (Small)]**

 **[House Sparrow Feather Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 1**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: [Flying Feather Shield]: Creates a formation of feathers in front of the user that can absorb attacks for a short while before dispersing.**

 **Passive Skill: [Feather Cleansing 1]**

Whoa…all these shields from one little bird? I had to wonder about that as I threw the kitchen paper into the bin and washed my hands; sparrows were chock full of parasites and diseases. At least I'd have a harder time getting colds once I eventually equipped [Disease Resistance 1].

 **As you can see, absorbing an entire animal is much more efficient than gathering the pieces separately. Sometimes, you may not have the option, but it is advised to take advantage of it whenever possible.**

 **For the last part regarding the absorption tutorial, please enter your house and place some medicine on the shield, as well as some form of cleaning product.**

Huh? This whole shield thing was getting more and more bizarre.

Heading back inside, grabbed some aspirin from the medicine cabinet, as well as some shoe polish that Dad used on his good shoes when he went to beg the Mayor to stop being such a stubborn dickhead and throw the Dockworker's Union a bone.

The results were surprising.

 **[Acetylsalicylic Acid Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 4**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Equip Passive Effect: [Party Pain Resistance Up (Small)]**

 **Passive Skills: [Pain Resistance Up (Small)], [Inflammation Resistance 1 (Small)], [Medicine Appraisal 1]**

 **[Shoe Polish Shield (Small)] (Locked)**

 **Attack: 5**

 **Defence: 10**

 **Equip Active Skill: None**

 **Equip Passive Skills: [Leather Waterproofing], [Poison Attack (Small)]**

 **Equip Demerits: [Flammability Up (Small)]**

 **Passive Skills: [Poison Resistance 1], [Leather Preservation]**

While, once again, neither of the shields I had gotten were what you might call strong, they did have some very useful effects, especially the Aspirin Shield (I couldn't even pronounce the full name of the drug, so I just called it its common name). The other shield was the first that I'd seen to have a definite downside to equipping it.

 **You have seen now that almost everything can be absorbed by the Holy Shield. As stated before, no living animals can be absorbed and no human parts can be absorbed either. In terms of nonorganic matter or manmade products, you cannot absorb something larger than, say, an office desk.**

 **The limitations on human remains or cuttings doesn't apply to pieces taken from a Parahuman's Changer or Breaker state, although it has to be either a solid or a liquid; the Holy Shield cannot absorb gaseous material.**

 **Now, close this window to go to the Combat Screen.**

Ah, now this would be interesting.

 **Attack: 22 (STR + AGI)**

 **Defence: 47 (Holy Shield Defence + Defence Up (Small) + Armour Bonuses)**

 **HP: 90 (END x STR)**

 **MP: 300 (WIS x INT)**

 **Available AP: 0**

 **Available SP: 0**

The information on the page was very interesting for me to read. On one side, my high INT and WIS gave me a pretty large pool of SP, while on the downside my low STR and END gave me a piss-poor amount of HP, less than a _third_ of my SP!

 **Your Attack is determined by combining your STR and AGI, while your Defence is determined mainly by what your currently equipped shield is, adding in passive bonuses and armour defence as well.**

 **Your HP is determined by multiplying your END and STR together. You might want to improve this somewhat.**

 **Your MP is determined by multiplying your WIS and INT together. This is pretty good for a beginner. Keep it up!**

 **Every time you level up, you gain 5 AP and 5+ SP. AP (Attribute Points) is used to increase your physical and mental abilities, while SP (Skill Points) is used to increase your mastery of your various skills. The amount of SP that you receive will always be at least five, plus you receive +1 SP for every Shield you acquire and +5SP for every Shield whose abilities you unlock before levelling up. This is far harder than you might imagine.**

 **Close this screen to go to the unlock time comparison screen.**

Doing, so, I saw representations of every shield that I had unlocked, along with a name and an estimated time to unlock next to them. The [House Sparrow Shield], just for an example, would take _six hours_ to unlock, which was the longest out of all my shields. The [Black Thread Shield] would take only half an hour by comparison, with most of the other shields taking more or less the same amount of time. A couple were up at the three hour mark too.

 **Choose the shield that has the shortest unlock time and concentrate on it. Think its name strongly enough and it will replace the Holy Shield.**

OK. I looked through the list and found the one that fit the criteria, which was the [Needle Shield] at 25 minutes. Concentrating on its name, I saw the [Holy Shield] become the [Needle Shield] in a small flash of light. A countdown appeared in the corner of my vision.

 **24:59**

 **Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial!**

 **You are awarded 50 EXP!**

 **You have earned 50 EXP!**

 **Congratulations! You have levelled up! LV1-2!**

 **You gain 5 AP!**

 **You gain 16 SP!**

As I read the notice, a small smile crossed my face. It was time to start training. Heroes didn't become stronger overnight, after all.

 **If anyone's curious, the Passive Skills are set up in a similar way to the Magic Stones system from FFIX, and both Active and Passive Skills can also be learned in a similar way to FFIX as well; master by using. Sufficient use of the skill can gain it a Mastery Skill Point without Taylor needing to add one to it. She won't find that out until later though. Review if you please. A simple 'I like this' or 'I don't like this' will be more than enough.**


	49. My Body is the Shield Chapter 3

**My Body is the Shield Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 47)**

 _The Next Day_

"Damn."

I was at the particular part of becoming a Cape that didn't involve my little Holy Shield interface…well, aside from the quest I had received when I thought of what I was going to call myself.

 **[Quest Alert!]**

 **Name It: You need to think of a name for your Parahuman persona. Come up with one before your first trip out in armour and receive a reward!**

 **Quest Completion Reward: Title 2 Change to [Independent/Rogue Parahuman], Hidden Title 3 Added (Cape Name), +100 EXP, $50.**

 **Quest Failure: Title 2 Change to [Independent/Rogue Parahuman]**

 **Accept?**

 **Yes | No**

I had accepted, of course and, thanks to my deceased mother's job as an English Professor, I had plenty of potential names to try. And, thanks to the computer at the library and its access to PHO, there was a list of the names of almost every single Parahuman on the planet, so the chance of me taking someone else's name was pretty slim. There was only one wrinkle in my plan.

A lot of the good names were already taken.

My first choice had been Escutcheon. One of its three meanings was 'heraldic shield' and was almost custom-made for my power set. Sadly some Cape from Florida already had it. And his powers had _nothing_ to do with pictures, crests or shields.

Mantle, Device, Emblem, Shield, Myriad, Crest, Motif, Insignia, Badge, Logo, Symbol…they were all taken!

My eyes narrowed at the first choice before I typed in a single word almost challengingly into the Cape Name finder.

Heraldry.

 **\- Searching…no Cape with that name has been found.**

"Gotcha!" I whispered before erasing my search history and closing the computer down.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **Name It: Quest Complete!**

 **You have taken the name 'Heraldry' as your Parahuman alter ego and now need only step out as that identity to claim it permanently as your own!**

 **Quest Completion Reward: Title 2 Change to [Independent/Rogue Parahuman], Hidden Title 3 Added (Cape Name), +100 EXP, $50.**

I had my name. It meant not only the shields of coats of arms, but the way they were laid out and what they had on them as well. It fit my power very, very well.

Now that I had Heraldry as my Cape name…should I go out _as_ Heraldry? As an independent Hero? I hadn't even tested out my powers outside of switching the shields around.

I reflexively looked at my chest, where my shield hung as a necklace. I was currently in the process of unlocking the [Battery Chicken Meat Shield (Small)] and it looked like a square with a plucked chicken emblazoned on it. I had already unlocked the [Needle Shield (Small)], the [Black Thread Shield (Small)] and the [Leaf Shield (Small)]. Turns out though, I have to be conscious for the shield to unlock things, so I couldn't sleep and unlock a shield.

As for the SP I had acquired yesterday when I levelled up, I had decided to hold off on assigning any until I had my first batch of shields unlocked. I mean, some were really useful, like the [Leaf Storm] skill from my [Leaf Shield]. With what I had available, I _could_ Max Out one of them, but I didn't think that was a very good idea, as that would make me overly dependent on that skill.

There again, spreading my points out over all of my Active Skills seemed to be a Bad Idea too. If I did that, they'd all be too weak. No, balance was the idea. I had sixteen points; I'd divide it in half and sink half of them into my Passive Skills and half into my Active Skills.

There was no rush.

 _Later_

Note to self: Don't tempt fate. Oh, and fuck the ABB and E88. And the useless PRT and Protectorate while I'm at it.

My neighbourhood had been turned into a warzone by both of them. And I could see the PRT and police blocking entry into it on one side. Guess which side of the barricade I was on? If you guessed 'the side with all the blood, bullets and violence' you'd be correct.

I had been home for half an hour when this shit started. From what little I had gathered, it had started as some skinheads harassing some ABB gangbangers and had snowballed into a huge clusterfuck from there. This, just so you know, sucked ass.

It was only a matter of time before some of the skinhead or gangbanger reinforcements started breaking into houses to drag out some conscripted meat shields or something and I wasn't about to wait like a fatted calf for the blade to drop.

Hurriedly calling up my Active Skill list, I wavered before dropping four points into [Shield Bash] and the other four into [Needle Spray]. The stat pages updated as I watched.

 **[Shield Bash] (MLV 5/20) [Unlocked]**

 **For other warriors who use a shield in concert with their weapons, smashing your enemy with your defensive weapon is typically a feint or a last ditch tactic. For a Shielder, it is your primary form of physical attack. At higher levels, your [Shield Bash] can stun enemies for a short period of time.**

 **MP per Use: 16.**

 **Range: Hand-to-Hand.**

 **Damage Dealt: STR+ATK.**

 **Bonus Damage: +8%.**

 **Cooldown: 4 Seconds.**

 **[Needle Spray] (MLV5/10) [Unlocked]**

 **Fire a barrage of 35-40 needles at the enemy from either the surface or from any of the edges.**

 **MP per Use: 15**

 **Range: 1.5 Metre**

 **Damage per Needle: 4-6**

 **Cooldown: 10 Seconds**

While not what you might call overwhelming, they were what I had to work with. I also noticed that cooldowns had been added. This was slightly worrying. I mean four seconds doesn't _sound_ like a lot of time, but when you're in a fistfight, it can feel like a long time.

Moving on to my Passive Skills, I bit my lip when I realised that in order to activate the Passive Skills from the shields, I would have to pay SP to active the 'slot' they were in before I could even start to level them up. That was more than slightly irritating.

Deciding that, as none of the Passive Skills from the newly unlocked shields (including the [Battery Chicken Meat Shield]) were worth the SP expenditure to bring them online at the moment, I would simply level up some of the ones I already had active. One of those would be [Defence Up (Small)], of course.

As to the other one, I was torn between [Lesser Pain Resistance] and [Auto-Defend]. On the one hand, I really, _really_ didn't want to feel pain. On the other, defending properly would prevent me from feeling pain in the first place. Decisions, decisions…

Shrugging, I put four points into [Auto-Defend] and four into [Defence Up (Small)], which changed to reflect their new power levels.

 **[Auto-Defend] (MLV5/30) (Unlocked)**

 **A part of a Shielder's instincts is when and where they will be attacked. Channelling that instinct, taking chance into account, this skill automatically moves your shield to intercept any close-combat attacks directed towards you. At higher levels, it will even intercept ranged attacks.**

 **Note: While your [My Body is the Shield] Status makes your entire body carry the same defence rating as your shield, intercepting an attack** _ **with**_ **the shield has far less risk of the attack breaking through.**

 **\- Chance of Attack Interception: 65%**

 **[Defence Up (Small)] (MLV5/10) [Unlocked]**

 **As a Shielder, Defence is your greatest strength. This skill adds to your already impressive defence by a small amount per Mastery Level. It isn't much, but every little helps.**

 **\- Defence Added: 37**

Again, it wasn't what I'd call overwhelming, but I would take what I could get at this point. Now the only thing I needed to do was figure out how to put my armour on…

 **[Equipment Tutorial]**

 **There are three options when you wish to change your equipment.**

 **First, you can change the old fashioned way.**

 **Second, you can press and hold each square and drag them separately to the correct body location.**

 **Finally, and this is what is recommended, you assign a particular outfit a code phrase. Once you speak the code phrase, you will automatically have that set of armour equipped in less than five seconds.**

I was definitely interested in the last one. Following the instructions, I set it up, titling the armour as 'Heraldry Set 1' and the code phrase as 'Raise the Banner.' I didn't think I'd ever say that in casual conversation and I'd simply dissolve the armour set if I ever did.

"OK, let's give this a try…Raise the Banner!"

The next instant, I was surrounded in a flash of light as my clothes dissolved (not my bra, panties or socks though, thank god) and the armour appeared in their place. Fortunately, all of the armour had some sort of fabric beneath the metal plates, so they acted as clothes as well as armour. Really damn convenient that.

The armour was solid steel, with green highlights on some of the plates. It was just basic light armour rather than full-on heavy armour. Thanks to my [Light to Medium Armour Proficiency] skill, I would get even more defence…I think. I hadn't examined the skill, which was a mistake, in hindsight. Better rectify that.

 **[Light to Medium Armour Proficiency] (MLV1/30) [Unlocked]**

 **Light armour is often the choice of scouts or those who find mobility to be the best defence. It offers protection without inhibiting movement and flexibility to any great degree. Medium armour is the middle ground between Light armour and Heavy armour, offering considerable protection with only minor movement and flexibility impairments. This skill increases the defence of any Light or Medium armour you wear, as well as mitigating any AGI penalties imposed by medium Armour.**

 **\- All [Light] or [Medium] armour gains +2 to their Defence Value when worn by you.**

 **\- All [AGI] penalties imposed by armour worn by you are reduced by 3.**

Ooohhh…this would be good once I level it up a bit. Shame it's stuck down at MLV 1, but beggars can't be choosers.

Time to take out the trash.

 _Outside_

The forty or so Empire thugs had been joined by Stormtiger and the ABB gangbangers had Oni Lee join in and the battle had been about to get really violent when a hunk of concrete flew between the two sides, making them look at where it came from.

An armoured figure in impressive steel armour and a tasteful red cape stood atop a house nearby, arms crossed. One hand bore a silvery shield, but there were no other weapons that they could see.

"Kindly move elsewhere to fight." The obvious Cape said firmly, "This is hardly a suitable place for such a thing."

Oni Lee looked at the figure before crumbling into ash and appearing behind them, a knife arcing towards the spine of the armoured figure. In a blur of movement, the knight-like figure spun around and blocked Oni lee with the shield before forcing his arm back and slamming the shield into the tele-duplicator's gut.

The enforcer of Lung actually staggered back before vanishing again, this time back with the ABB grunts. He snapped something out in Japanese and pointed at the armoured figure, which had turned around again and walked to the edge of the roof. The gangbangers looked grim as they readied their weapons.

"Can I assume you'll be wanting help putting these slants in their place?" Stormtiger called as he floated in place.

"No, you cannot." The armoured figure replied, "I'm no Nazi. I'll take care of these losers and then move on to your goose-stepping gimps."

"A shame." The Nazi Cape sighed theatrically, "Do you have a name so we can stop calling you 'that Cape in Armour'?"

"My name is Heraldry." The Cape said before jumping down to land lightly on the ground, "And I'm going to enjoy this _far_ more than I should."

Stormtiger narrowed his eyes behind his mask. He couldn't tell if the Cape was male or female. It wasn't that they were disguising their voice….it was that he couldn't _remember_ what gender the voice sounded like, even while listening to it. A Stranger power?

"Get him!" he barked at the E88 troops he had at his command. Male was a default for unknown gender Parahumans.

The first to reach Heraldry was an ABB gangbanger wielding a katana. The armoured Cape blocked the downward chop with his shield before kicking the man in the balls and throwing him to one side as he shrieked in pain. The next was an E88 skinhead with an aluminium bat. He didn't manage to block, so the weapon slammed against his armour…and bent as if it were made of rubber.

"…Huh?" was all he could say before Heraldry smashed him in the face with his shield, laying the man out.

"That's quite enough of that." Stormtiger growled and sent several wind blades at the Cape, who was advancing forwards, shield up. The blades slammed into the shield and dispersed, not even scratching the surface.

"That's quite the tough shield." He muttered, "I'll give it to Kaiser when I take it from your broken body!"

Oni Lee teleported in again, this time with a grenade pulled out.

"Shield Change: Black Thread Shield." Heraldry muttered and the silver shield…turned into a ball of thread. What?

"[Black Thread Binding]" Heraldry said and ten strings of thread about a metre long each sped from the shield and wrapped around Oni Lee, just before he crumbled to dust. The tele-duplicator appeared behind the ABB grunts, still bound by the thread, although that didn't last for long. Still, it was an interesting revelation about his powers. Evidently he carried along everything that was attached to him when he teleported.

"Get your guns out and shoot him!" Stormtiger barked and two men hastened to obey, pulling out a handgun apiece and pointing them at Heraldry.

"Change Shield: Holy Shield!" the Cape Hissed and the ball of thread became an ordinary-looking shield with a large green gem embedded near the top, just as the two men fired a couple of shots at Heraldry. With a couple of 'pings', the bullets ricocheted off his armour harmlessly, although this time the armoured Cape did wince slightly.

"What the fuck?!" one of the men shouted in disbelief. Stormtiger snorted. It wasn't as if the Empire didn't have Brutes that could tank a few measly pistol bullets, so what were those idiots so freaked out about?

"Change Shield: Leaf Shield." Heraldry said, and the shield changed again, this time into a shield shaped like an oak leaf, "[Leaf Storm]!"

From out of nowhere, a raging tumult of leaves appeared, engulfing everyone within a couple of meters of Heraldry, including Stormtiger, who cursed himself for not noticing that, even as he was fired upon, the armoured Cape had been advancing on the temporarily mixed group of ABB and E88.

Suddenly, a silver shield appeared out of the storm of leaves and slammed into his face, breaking his nose. Reeling back with a bellow of pain Stormtiger lashed out with wind formed into claws, but they skidded off the surface of the shield to no visible effect, right before the shield slammed into him again, this time right into his solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs.

Slumping to the ground on his knees, clutching his ribs with both arms, he didn't notice Heraldry come up behind him and slam his shield onto the back of his head, driving consciousness from him completely.

 _With Heraldry_

Breathing deeply, I pulled my shield back as Stormtiger slumped to the ground, unconscious. The entire fight had been terrifying, but the only things that had breached her defences had been the bullets, and they had only cost me five HP. Granted, I had less than a hundred HP and I had forgotten to use my AP before coming out, but I would know better next time.

As the [Leaf Storm] died down the Empire thugs were freaked out when they saw I'd defeated their Cape leader and beat a swift retreat, abandoning their comrades. Oni Lee looked at me and I tensed, ready to fight, but he shook his head and spoke in a rusty voice that made it sound like he hadn't spoken English in a good long while.

"On this day, _Gaijin_ , you have made enemies. The Dragon of Kyushu shall burn you to ashes for interfering with the ABB. For now though, you have a grace period for defeating _Arashitora_ there."

With that, he barked more words in Japanese to his subordinates and vanished in a cloud of ash again, this time not to reappear in my vicinity.

Well that was troublesome. Looks like I'm going to have to watch out for Lung stomping up my street at some point. Oh joy. My attention was caught by a small window popping up.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **You have defeated:**

\- **ABB Gangbanger X1**

\- **Empire 88 Skinhead X1**

\- **Empire 88 Cape, Stormtiger!**

 **You earn 555 EXP!**

 **You earn achievement [Grab the Tiger by the Tail]!**

 **You earn achievement [U Can't Touch This]!**

 **You gain a level! LV2-LV3!**

 **You gain a level! LV3-LV4!**

 **You gain 10 AP!**

 **You gain 25 SP!**

 **The [ABB] now dislikes you!**

 **The [Empire 88] now dislikes you!**

I had to blink at that. I'd levelled up _twice_? Wait…the amount it had taken me to level up from Level 1 had been 50 and the next number to get to Level 3 had been 150. I'd already earned 100 EXP for choosing my name, which meant that I'd just needed 50 more to level up to Level 3. If the amount of EXP needed to level up kept tripling, then I'd only needed 450 EXP to get to Level 4, and the amount I needed to get to Level 5 was 1350, although I could deduct 55 EXP from that, so I was at 1295 to level up again.

Sweet.

Absently, I changed to the [Black Thread Shield] and fired off threads that wrapped around Stormtiger and trussed him up nicely. I fired several more, just to be certain before doing the same to the ABB guy and the Skinhead.

Time to go and drag these guys to the police.

 **People were curious about her name in this, so I decided to help you out. ^_^**


	50. I Think We Need a Bigger Flyswatter Ch 2

**I Think We Need a Bigger Flyswatter Chapter 2 (Original chapter, Chapter 10)**

 _With Vista_

Missy Biron, the Ward known as Vista, was the most powerful Shaker Cape in Brockton Bay. She could compress, expand and bend space as easily as if it were silly putty. She could shrink a door down to a centimetre-sized gap or turn a dingy little closet into a football field-sized room.

The greatest limitation on this awesome power was that she was affected by the Manton Limit. Basically, anything organic in the space that she wanted to warp would shut her power down cold. Thanks to Skitter summoning a swarm of insects from somewhere, and continually calling more, the corridor between the Warlord of Brockton Bay and the next room was crawling with cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes and other nastiness.

That didn't even take into account the supersized roach that was standing between her and the Warlord. Just looking at it made Vista shiver in disgust.

"Skitter, surrender." Miss Militia ordered again, calmly, "Alexandria herself has been summoned to talk to you. Once she arrives, you will not get off lightly."

"I never was." Skitter replied softly before the sound of footfalls signalled her departure.

"…damn." Vista muttered. She might not be able to sense organics in her Shaker field, but she could tell when an organic life form was in her field, because she couldn't manipulate that particular area. The sheer amount of insects that Skitter has summoned was like one big area where her power said 'nope' to her.

"Well shit." Clockblocker said mildly, "So we have one of the Warlords of the Bay running around in the building and she's probably not very trusting of PRT or Protectorate personnel right now. What now?"

" **Alert, alert!** " Director Tagg's voice boomed through the speakers of the announcement system, " **Skitter the Warlord is loose! I repeat! Skitter the Warlord has escaped from her cell and is loose in the building! All exits are to be sealed and guarded, any insects within line of sight are to be killed and all Squads are to be mobilised to hunt down and recapture Skitter!** "

"Is he seriously…?" Kid Win asked in disbelief, "Fuck, this is _not_ going to end well."

Miss Militia's eyes tightened and narrowed before she grabbed an assault rifle from mid-air as it was created by her power and shot the oversized cockroach with an entire mag of ammo. It was rather vicious for her, so Vista assumed she was taking her feelings regarding Tagg's latest ploy out on the dumb insect.

"Wards, move out." The older Hero said softly, "We have a Warlord to catch."

 _With Skitter_

"Shit fuck!" I dodged another PRT trooper and slammed him to the ground using my newly acquired Brute strength. I then picked him up and threw him into the rest of his squad before swarming them with insects, eliciting screams from them.

Countless flies, beetles and roaches died as the troopers screamed and thrashed, but they were all replaceable. I was drawing in insects from all over the limits of my range, which wasn't inconsiderable now that I had seemed to have Triggered for a second time. Just like Grue had thanks to that little psycho Bonesaw.

Something that not many people seemed to realise was that there was no such thing as a completely sealed house. Likely Mannequin, back when he was the Heroic Tinker Sphere, could have created one, but, for regular houses and office buildings, there were always at least some bugs in them and always a few dozen ways for them to get in and out of a building.

While I was locked up, I had used my dwindling number of insects to scout out the insect-controlled portion of the PRT building. I knew exactly where to direct them into and what insect should enter which entrance.

Once that had been done, I had scouted out the nerve centres of the PRT building; the offices of the Director and Vice-Director, the cells, the Wards' base in the basement, the Troopers' Armoury and, of course, the Confiscated Villain Equipment Storage Vault.

Calling it a 'vault' was a bit grandiose in my opinion. It was just a regular door with a complicated digital lock on it. It was hubris, if you asked me. The designer of the PRT building never imagined that they would have to worry about a villain breaking out of their cell and stealing their equipment back. They all assumed that I would run for an exit, any exit, in order to get out of the building. They were so, so mistaken about that.

I left the squad of troopers behind me and advanced on the stairs. The vault room was two floors up. Far enough away from the cells to be safe but not so far away to be a long walk for the troopers to take confiscated outfits to. Long live lazy room selection.

I ghosted up the stairs lightly. As I did so, every camera I could find was being swarmed by flying bugs of all sizes and descriptions and every armoured PRT Trooper was under siege in their armour. I left the Wards alone; either they wore armour that had been altered to block my bugs (Clockblocker) or they were pretty much immune to being swarmed by bugs (Weld) or I genuinely didn't want to have to harass them (Vista and Kid Win).

I blame Foil for that last part. Her reminisces about her teammates, Shadow Stalker notwithstanding, had painted pictures of kids I might have liked to have been friends with. Clockblocker was just another Regent though.

Walking calmly past distracted PRT personnel and besieged troopers, I finally stood in front of the locked door into the Vault. I snapped out a kick that hit the door at just the right location to smash off the lock and the door swung open. Ducking through, I immediately pushed a desk in front of the door after I slammed it shut.

After adding several other reasonably heavy objects to the ersatz barricade I had going, I turned to view the room. It was row after row of cardboard boxes. It didn't look like a place that you'd keep confiscated Villain equipment; it looked more like a room at a highschool, one where they kept a bunch of old, out-of-date records.

Huffing, I stalked down the aisles until I found a box with my name on it. Opening it, I smirked. Inside was almost all of my gear; spider silk suit, pouch helmet/mask and most of my tools. The only things missing were my zip-ties and my pepper spray, although I admittedly didn't use it often these days.

I was about to put it on when a thought struck m. The 'new' hero, Defiant was actually the disgraced hero Armsmaster, who had deliberately set things up in the Leviathan Endbringer battle to kill off some high-ranking villains and had tried to kill me along with it. He'd failed and I'd shoved his halberd up Leviathan's ass, metaphorically speaking.

The point was, he was a Tinker that specialised in miniaturisation and efficiency. It would be simple child's play to put a tracker or something in my costume in case I managed to get out. It's what I would do.

Pity I had more friends than he did. I sent in my swarm, mostly the roaches, to scout out inside and sure enough, I found no less than two trackers, one inside the seam at the base of the neck and one inside the pectoral spider silk and chitin armour. Ripping them out was easy. My helmet had a tracker as well. He really wasn't taking any chances with me, was he? Checking my other stuff, I found a tracker or something else inserted inside all of them. Those I couldn't rip or pull out I had to abandon.

Finally satisfied that my suit was Tinkertech free, I got dressed in my outfit. Skitter the Warlord was back in action.

" _Skitter._ " A female voice said out of the speakers in the room, a familiar one at that.

"Dragon." I replied as I pulled down my helmet, "How can I help you today?"

" _You can start by surrendering._ " She replied easily.

"Sorry, look at what that landed me with when I trusted the PRT to keep their prisoners safe before." I replied, "Oh, and answer this question; does a set of all sets contain itself?"

There was a pause. " _Ha. Ha. Very funny. Paradoxes don't work on my AI._ "

"Worth a try." I shrugged, "by the way, the guy who tried to kill me? I dunno of you guys actually care, but he went by the name Coiled. Tried to kill me because Coil isn't around anymore."

" _You killed him?_ " Dragon asked sharply.

"Only after he tried to burn me to death." I told her, "And, as he's dead, would you like to know who he really was?"

"… _That's toeing a_ very _thin line._ " Dragon said slowly, " _I only have your word that he's dead._ "

"He is in fact dead. I shot him in the head with his own PRT-issue gun." I replied, a snarl of satisfaction crossing my face, "And his real identity…was former Director Thomas Calvert of the ENE PRT. An anti-Cape bigot, a Villain and now a hardliner thug. We don't have much luck with our directors, do we?"

" _Do you honestly expect me to believe you?_ " Dragon asked after a long moment.

"No. I don't really care at the moment." I said truthfully, "Now then…it's time to blow this Popsicle stand."

I had known that Dragon had been distracting me, keeping me talking while PRT troopers took up station outside the vault's door. As I had been talking to her, _I_ had manoeuvred several bugs into place. These were beetles like Atlas, ones with heavy armour that would look terrifying and be like walking tanks. When I finished talking, I activated the third new aspect of my powers.

In seconds, the tiny bugs had shot up, filling the corridors and making people shriek in fear. I think that I had developed this power as a result of being around Rachel so much. It was so like hers that it was scary, yet there were also key differences.

With Rachel, she needed to be close to, preferably touching, her dogs in order to use it. I didn't. I could run it down my mental connection to them from anywhere within my brand-spanking new _six block_ range, although the further the distance, the more tiring it was to do. Rachel had to reapply it to her dogs after a certain amount of time. I didn't. The enhancement that I added to my insects didn't go away until either the bugs were dead or I ordered them to shrink. Whenever Brutus, Judas and Angelica had come down off the enhancement, they sloughed off excess fur and muscle. I didn't know if it was the case, but I don't think mine will do that. The mass will just…disappear. At least, that's the impression I het from my power.

Which is a complete waste! If my power did slough off like Rachel's did, I could have so much material to work with for making my armour and clothes.

Anyway, I had set the beetles to appear in several places; three outside to deal with the PRT troopers out there. How were they getting along out there, I wonder?

"Son of a bitch!"

"Where the fuck did those come from?!"

"Foam them! I said FOAM THEM, YOUIDIOTS!"

Yeah, they were having problems. It's one thing to foam a Parahuman, but a horse-sized bug charging at you? Yeah, not so much.

Anyway, I also sent three to hold up the Wards and Miss Militia. The final three that I had initially deployed were tearing shit up. Payback for outing me, you sons of bitches.

" _Skitter! What are you doing?!_ " Dragon cried in disbelief.

"Keeping everyone busy until I'm out of here." I answered before I moved. I hurriedly threw the barricade apart and fled out of the room, darting to the nearest window and shattering it with a single kick. I love being a Brute.

A single beetle flew out in advance of me and grew to the same size as Atlas. Jumping onto my new steed, I gathered my swarm and headed out, only to be brought up short by the sight I had been dreading to see since Miss Militia told me she was coming.

Alexandria. The world's foremost flying brick-type Cape. Only the Siberian had ever caused her harm, aside from the Endbringers. Her dark costume stood out as she floated forward majestically, an imperious set to her body.

During the Echidna Incident, her clone, dubbed Apocrypha by those who had been there, had outed her true identity as Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown of the PRT, as well as her membership of a group called Cauldron, who were apparently responsible for the creation of the Case-53's.

A flicker of anger coloured my mind at the memory of that. Who did she think she was? Compared to her, I was practically a saint. I had killed only once: Coil. Her? She had the blood of who knows how many thousands on her hands.

I quashed the emotion, sinking it into my swarm. Being angry when confronting one of the three most powerful Parahumans on the planet was not a good idea. Cool, calm, collected and in control, that was the way to go.

"Skitter. Last I checked you were supposed to be in your cell." Alexandria stated as she drew closer.

"Yeah, someone, a former associate of Coil, you know, Thomas Calvert? Well someone tried to kill me by filling my cell up with water." I replied breezily, "Didn't really want to die, so I decided to seek my fortunes elsewhere."

"Not an option. Get back inside and stand down." The former Second in Command of the Protectorate ordered.

"Yeah, how about no?" I scoffed, "Would you go back somewhere where you'd almost been killed and weren't sure that the same person wouldn't try again?"

"I will be in the building. Whoever tried before will not dare try again while I'm there." Alexandria stated firmly, "This is your last warning. Stand down or else."

"I'll go 'else' here." I said and summoned more bugs to my swarm, ready to fight.

Her mouth thinned to a line and I got the impression she was frowning under her mask. I was seriously going to do this. I was going to fight fucking _Alexandria_! Hoo boy. Some days it really doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Shoving my emotions into my steadily growing swarm, I prepared for her attack.

"Have it your way." She said with a small shrug, before she launched herself at me.

 **I would have had this out earlier, but I had a power failure and lost most of it. Lesson to be learned here; always save every 500 words. Otherwise you have to retype everything.**


	51. It's Time to Duel!

Most people knew that there was a limited pipeline to Earth Aleph. Most people knew that data could be exchanged through it. What most people _didn't_ consider was what kind of data was flowing between Earth Aleph and Earth Bet. Most people assumed that it was financial data, Tinkertech designs and the like.

Well, they weren't wrong, but in one dump, details of Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards were sent over for some reason. In a lot of parallel worlds, it was looked at by the same person, and dismissed as inconsequential, fading into obscurity.

In _this_ world, however, a different man saw the data and asked for details. They say a pebble dropped in a pond can send ripples out. The name of the cards in this world, reverting back to the TV series' original Duel Monsters, was the stone in this case. As to the ripples…

 _Brockton Bay General Hospital_

"…and [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] attacks your life points directly!" I declared smugly, "My win."

The nurse stared in astonishment as I beat her. "You really are good."

I shrugged modestly. "I just know my deck pretty well."

Duel Monsters had been around for a while and most kids had a deck. When your world is surrounded by three deadly killing monsters, plus numerous human-shaped monsters like the Three Blasphemies and the Slaughterhouse Nine, something like a game that lets you act as a 'wizard' and summon monsters of your own was fairly uplifting for people. Even adults got into it.

As the nurse cleared up her deck and headed off now that her break was over, I did the same to my cards, sighed and lay back in my bed. I had been in the hospital for a week now, after The Locker incident. I had no memories of what had become of me after the fourth hour of being locked in the accursed thing, but I had been found, bleeding, battered and unconscious, outside the hospital and my locker had had its door ripped off its hinges.

Naturally, there had been a lot of pointed questions about the contents of my locker, but after I pointed out that I had been locked in the damn thing and hadn't had anything to do with it being full of that biological waste, the police had turned their beady eyes onto the school. As it was obvious that the whole mess had been left over the winter holidays, the janitors who had been supposed to clean it before the start of school were questioned.

To my complete lack of surprise, the Bitch Trio were being ignored in the investigation. Somehow, it failed to surprise me or Dad. With Alan Barnes, a high-priced Divorce lawyer, standing behind the three of them threatening high-priced lawsuits on anyone for any attempt to accuse his daughter of wrongdoing.

He wasn't a good parent. Anyone could see that Emma had drastically changed from how she had been before I went to summer camp. If he had noticed that and then decided to bury his head in the sand…well, he wasn't a good parent, enough said.

Dad….Dad was still in the middle of one of his rages. He was furious about what had happened to me and was in the middle of calming himself down, which was why he wasn't here with me. It was a good thing, because now I could practice my Parahuman power.

Yes, I had gotten one during The Locker. Thus far, it didn't seem to be anything that you might call useful. I just seemed to be able to absorb my cards into my body.

Shuffling my deck, I placed my deck over my left wrist and, in a flash of light, the cards were gone, replaced with the design that all Duel Monster cards had on their flipside seemingly tattooed onto my skin. I had first done this by accident the day after I had woken up from my mini-coma, about two days ago. I had forced the cards out almost as soon as the tattoo formed out of fright, and I hadn't had a chance until today to check out my cards.

The odd thing was that had been reasonably certain that I had had my cards in my pocket when I was shoved into the locker, yet, according to the nurses, they had been clutched in my hands when they rushed me into the hospital. That clearly said to me that my power, which was focussed on the cards, was more than I thought it was.

Frowning, I poked the tattoo with one hand and blinked as five card symbols appeared in my line of sight. I used a fairly standard warrior deck and I recognised all of these as my cards; [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian], [Legendary Sword], [Reinforcements], [Skull Mariner] and [Ekibyo Drakmord].

Emma had gone the route of cutesy cards that needed skill and tactics to pull out a win…until whatever the hell had flipped her thinking happened, at which point she had switched to pure brute force cards with high attack power and all the strategy of a rabid berserker.

Very similar to Sophia, now I came to think of it.

Well, assuming that it was my turn…I tapped the tattoo again, and another card appeared, [Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight].

I really wished that I could risk _trying_ to summoning one of the monsters, but _if_ I succeeded and _if_ they were life sized, [Skull Mariner] would be around about the same size as a real wooden galleon, [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] would be about six feet high and [Gaia] would be at least that, but also mounted on top of a horse. And while I _might_ be able to dismiss a monster that I summoned, there was every chance that I wouldn't be able to do it immediately or that there was a minimum amount of time they could be kept out for. Powers, according to what I had read on PHO, could be weird like that.

A smile played across my lips as I pushed and twisted slightly with my mind, ejecting my deck and making the cards in front of me disappear. It looks as if I would have a lot to test out once I got out of hospital.

 _Two Weeks Later_

 _Arcadia High School_

All I could say was 'Long live the damn police, sucks to be you, Blackwell!' by the end of the investigation.

The police investigation, while unable to determine who had been responsible for my attack (which had been upped from assault with malicious intent to attempted manslaughter after the Police lab told them exactly how virulent the bio-waste in The Locker had been) had concluded that fault for the lack of discipline among the student body fell partly on the parents but mostly on the staff of Winslow.

The upshot of that was that I was granted quite a bit of compensation money and a rapid transfer to Arcadia, which was the best school in all of Brockton Bay. The staff of Winslow, on the other hand, had been sent to renew their teacher's licences. _Ex_ -Principal Carrie Blackwell had been given the boot and was unofficially blacklisted as an educator, from what Dad was able to make out. She had put her house up for sale and left the Bay in quite a hurry, apparently.

I had started at Arcadia the previous day, which had been nerve-wracking to say the least. Even going near the lockers had made me want to hurl and I could almost smell the stench of The Locker any time I was near them. Urgh.

Currently, it was lunch and I was engaged in a bitter struggle against Victoria Dallon in a Duel Monster's match.

"Damn, I can't believe someone can use a vanilla Aleph deck like this!" the superheroine pouted as I dealt with another of her attacks with [Mirror Force].

Since being exported to Earth Bet, there had initially been only the cards from Aleph to work with, but new Bet-only cards had been made and there was heated competition between those who stuck primarily with Aleph cards, those who primarily used the Bet cards and those who used both. I used Aleph cards.

Three guesses what Glory Girl used.

"Good cards are all very well, but you need to learn when to play them rather than just getting them on the field as soon as you can." I told her, "Now then…my turn, I believe…I sacrifice [Moon Envoy] and [Hard Armour] in order to summon [Swift Gaia, the Fierce Knight]! Battle phase, he attacks your life points directly. You now have minus 400 life points. I win."

Vicky's pout returned in full force as she gathered up her cards. "How the hell did you beat me? Most of your cards aren't exactly strong. Hell, a lot of them had less than 1500 Attack points!"

"Strategy and tactics." I shrugged as the girls who had been watching commiserated with the blond superteen regarding her loss, "The best way to deal with overly strong cards like most of your monsters are is to trap them and use their strength against them. It also doesn't hurt that you use precious few magic or trap cards."

"I'm not too good with them." Vicky said ruefully, "That's more Ames' forte."

Amy Dallon, Panacea, jerked and looked up as her name was spoken. "Eh?"

"Your deck uses a lot of magic and trap cards." Vicky repeated, "You have, what, fifteen of each type?"

"It's recommended that a sixty-card deck be half monsters, half magic and trap." Amy retorted, "You have _ten_ magic and trap cards _altogether_ in a fifty-card deck."

Listening to the sisters' squabble good-naturedly, I smiled. This was heaven compared to Winslow. I had managed to pass tests in each subject to prove my knowledge, so I was right about where the rest of my year was at. Thank god I got an extra week off to study. My Winslow grades would have sucked.

The extra time off had also given me time to experiment with my power to determine exactly how some of it worked. I could only 'absorb' a legal deck size of at least forty cards and, for some reason, less than sixty cards. I also had to abide by the three multiples of a card per deck rule, but otherwise the limited, semi-limited and forbidden card rules were irrelevant.

I had spent a day with the card tattoo active and the five cards of my hand floating across my vision. The only thing I kept doing all day was attempt to draw a card. It had taken a while but I realised that the game mechanics were, to a greater or lesser degree, still in effect. I couldn't just draw whenever I wanted; I had to wait until it was my 'turn' again. That period ended up being about two hours from when I first drew.

I had yet to try to summon something, but if it worked, I would be a Master Cape. Given that one thing that I _had_ tried was equipping myself with [Legendary Sword] and it worked, I am able to call myself a Trump/Shaker. When I equipped it, I knew how to use a sword and I definitely got faster and stronger. Probably more resilient as well. Not by much though; [Legendary Sword] was the very first Equip Card for warrior-type monsters that ever existed and only raised the Attack and Defence of warriors by 300 apiece.

Evidently humans counted as warriors.

I wanted to see if I could absorb decks other than my current one, so I was going to build a spellcaster deck after school and give it a try. It would be interesting to see, to say the least.

 _After School_

 _Hebert Residence_

"Whoa…" I whispered. Held in my hand was an open book with a black cover, a quill pen laid across it. This was the [Book of Secret Arts], the spellcaster equivalent of [Legendary Sword]. As with the sword, the book filled me with power (all 300 points in Attack/Defence that is possessed) but unlike the sword, it also gave me knowledge of an attack.

Unlike with monsters, it turned out that I _could_ detach Equip Magic Cards from myself and return them to my hand, so I did that to the book before telling Dad that I was going for a walk and heading out to the one place in Brockton Bay that everyone ignored.

The Boat Graveyard.

Sure, New Wave overflew the place every now and then (mostly Glory Girl), but no one else even looked at the place. It was an eyesore, a disgrace that was a visible sign of the Bay's decay and decline.

It was also perfect for me to try and use my powers fully.

Eager though I was, I was also not incautious. Just because I assumed that no one would be looking at the Graveyard didn't necessarily mean that was the case. I took the time to weave my hair into a braid before going out, as well as stopping off and buying a few bandannas and a couple of domino masks. If Miss Militia could use a bandanna, so could I. The domino masks were because I'm paranoid.

When I entered the Boat Graveyard, I quickly ducked into a ship and put on what could be considered to be a disguise or costume. The plain white bandana was fairly nondescript and contrasted nicely with the red domino mask I chose. Good. So, now I was ready to try things out.

Re-equipping myself with the [Book of Secret Arts], I followed the knowledge in my head and raised a hand, palm flat, at a nearby ship hulk.

"[Radiant Beam]!"

A beam of solid light left my hand and struck the steel hull, leaving a sizable dent and a scorch mark in it. Whew. Looks like this was an attack reserved for Brutes only.

Swapping out my deck to warriors, I saw that the first card I had drawn was [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] again. He was something of a favourite of mine, as his special ability represented my determination not to bow to overwhelming force. He wasn't able to be destroyed in battle by monsters with more than 1900 attack points and I was resilient enough to resist being crushed by the entire school becoming my enemy.

I reached out and tapped the picture of the card. In a flash of light, a tall warrior dressed in tan trousers, brown boots, a leather shirt with green armour over it, a green helmet, a dark purple cloak and wielding a longsword appeared. His features were elven, including the ears, and he had a pair of triangular tattoos , one beneath each of his eyes.

"Mistress." He said in a light tenor and knelt before me like a knight to his liege lord. I was struck dumb for a moment before I recovered myself.

"Stand, please."

Gracefully, [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] stood and sheathed his blade.

"What is your bidding?" he asked respectfully.

"I…I want to be a hero." I told him, "My power lets me summon you…"

"Indeed, mistress." The elfin warrior nodded.

"This city, Brockton Bay, was a prosperous city once." I continued, "The villains have taken it over bit by bit over the years. I plan on stopping them. Are you with me?"

"My blade is yours, mistress." [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] swore with a bow, "Our enemies shall fall before us!"

Oops. Better explain the 'no-killing' thing at some point before I head out for my first patrol. Still, this was excellent. I had no idea that my monsters would have personalities!

I smiled. "Well then…looks like it's time to experiment."

 **I got the idea from reading Stewart92's 'Screw the Rules, I have Escalation!' fic on Spacebattles. His idea was good, but I've changed it ever so slightly so it isn't permanent. I'm not going to do a full PRT assessment like I usually do, but let's just say that she's Master: 10 (Duel Monster's Projections) with a sub-rating of Trump/Shaker: 8, as well as a Striker: 1 Rating for being able to absorb the cards. Review! Reviews make the world go round!**


	52. Did you Ever Wonder Why We're Here? Ch3

**Have you Ever Wondered Why We're Here? Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 42)**

I stood, as Freelancer, in the middle of the Armoury, clad in my Mark One Armour, sans helmet. It was little more than a testbed of the basic technologies that had gone into the Mark Two armour. Unlike the MK 2, however, the MK1 didn't require anything more than a basic VI to run its systems.

"This is a bad idea." Anne said from her place near the door. To be exact, it was where a soft-light _hologram_ of her was being projected. I had installed the basic SL Hologram generators all over the base's walls, ceilings and floors, even out in the corridor, so Anne could have some degree of freedom of movement until I could build her a proper robot body.

"So you've said." I answered her as I clipped ammo onto my belt, "Ten times in as many minutes."

"That should tell you exactly how much of a bad idea this is." My 'twin' said with a frown. She had chosen an avatar that was structurally similar to me, albeit made up of blue lines and light. She had also taken liberties with her bust size, hips and butt.

"I need to test out the basic systems before taking the MK2 out." I told her, "Going out with a basic VI will tell me exactly how much of your processing power will be eaten up running them so I can calculate how many of my Armour Enhancements I can put into a single suit of armour without overwhelming you."

"At least take Lopez!" Anne said with an angry flash of red light across her body, "You will be going out, alone, in Brockton fucking Bay! What if you run into Lung? Or Kaiser? Or any one of the really powerful Capes? The MK1 isn't going to cut it!"

"Lopez is the Base Custodian. He has to stay here to guard it." I countered, "Phyllis will be acting as support for me using the drones I built."

The drones were very basic by my standards. Around the size of a medicine ball and massing as much, their weapons included a grenade launcher that contained grenades of not-Containment Foam, as well as smoke grenades and a small supply of actual live grenades, a basic pistol turret that fired tranquiliser rounds and Taser rounds, as well as a front-mounted dart launcher that fired bluescreen rounds exclusively. They could fly, hover and land all but silently thanks to sound-dampening tech and they resembled one of those old-fashioned large and bulky computer monitors that Apple had released in 1999. Aside from the stubby wings, engines and rotors and everything.

"How many?" Anne asked warily.

"All five." I answered steadily, "I'm not suicidal…not anymore."

That had been something that had taken me some time to accept. The almost two years of bullying that the Trio had inflicted on me had reduced my ability to care about my own life by quite a degree. I honestly hadn't cared about if I had lived or died in my desire to be a hero.

Anne had realised that. As a Smart AI, analysing her own code -basically her own mind- was second nature to her, and as she had been copied almost exactly from my own mind, she had seen that part of me in her. So, being me, she had ripped that part out of her, causing enough cyber-psychic trauma to cause something amazing to happen.

She had _Triggered_.

It was an amazing thing to realise. I have created not just a Smart AI, but a Smart AI close enough to being human that they could _actually Trigger_ like any Trigger-capable human could. As she was basically a copy of me, obviously she was Trigger capable.

Like me, she was a Tinker, with a specialisation in Programming. Unlike me, however, she also had a speciality in drone tech, which was how I had built those drones. I had basically built her an entire workshop so she could churn them out. The designs had ranged between a basic copy of a commercially built remote controlled drone to the Hunter-Killer type that I was taking with me tonight.

Anyway, we had sat down and had long talks about why we couldn't afford to die. Dad was one reason and spiting the Bitch Trio was another. I was a whole lot less eager to risk my life after we talked. Having a sister-figure again was nice.

"Well…OK." Anne agreed begrudgingly, "But if it looks like a situation that you can't handle, and Phyllis isn't able to help fast enough, I'm jacking them."

"I dislike that possibility, Alpha." Phyllis joined the discussion, a pair of ululating circles appearing on the nearby wall screen, "I am also perfectly capable of guarding Freelancer."

"You don't have the imagination that a human or a Smart AI does, Phyllis." Anne argued. For whatever reason, Phyllis is leery about making a human-type avatar, so sticks with something that looks like circles most of the time.

"I would still think that I am more than capable of protecting Freelancer." Phyllis retorted, "I have not been proven in either success or failure."

"OK, enough, both of you!" I cut in impatiently, "The plan will be that Phyllis will operate the drones under the supervision of Anne and IF, and only IF, it seems that the situation becomes that Phyllis cannot operate all five drones in a combat situation, then Anne will take over three of them. While you're watching, Anne, start a production run of five more drones of the same type so that next time we do not stand around arguing pointlessly."

"Yes Freelancer."

"Got it, sis."

Every time Anne called me that, I felt warm inside.

"OK, so now all I have to do is pick my weapons…" I said and stepped up to where the firearms were. I had no actual 'ammunition' if you meant physical lead bullets. All of my rounds were special. Bluescreen rounds, Taser Rounds, Tracer Rounds…the list went on. All of my guns were roughly the same calibre, so all my bullets could be used for all my guns.

My first choice of weapon was a close combat one. It was a long black stick that could collapse down to fit in a slot on the back of either forearm in my armour. It was no mere baton however; it could create an electrical field around it roughly as strong as a Taser round or a Stun Gun. It also had a battery prototype that lasted over a month before being recharged. Once I got around to it, I'd modify Lopez's battery to be the same so he wasn't as limited by battery power.

Secondly was ammo. I had an ammo dispenser built into my backpack that held enough for me to fight the Merchants head-to-head and come out on top. I took five magazines of Bluescreens, thirty Tasers, one Tracer and a Quantum Round magazine.

Quantum rounds were my latest invention. Some might call them teleport bullets, because that's what they did, teleport whatever they hit to a pre-programmed location within a few miles. In this case, anyone shot with them would be sent to have a nice swim in the bay. There were, of course, several limitations to these bullets. One was that they couldn't teleport anything massing heavier than your average human, another was that their maximum range was seven miles, or just over eleven kilometres, so you had to choose your teleport location very carefully and then make sure that you didn't leave range of it. Not that that was a small range by any means.

Next was the actual guns themselves. I took a magnum pistol, preloaded with Taser Rounds, as well as a battle rifle, again preloaded with Taser Rounds. I didn't want to risk killing someone, which is why I didn't carry any actual lethal rounds. I had made some though, storing them in a vault on the far side of the armoury, just in case the Slaughterhouse Nine of another S-Class threat turned up in Brockton Bay. It was locked by three access codes that meant that only unanimous agreement from all three code holders (me, Anne and Phyllis) could open it.

No point allowing temptation or rage to get the best of me.

When the magnetic clamps on my backpack locked my battle rifle down, I turned to face the helmet that sat on the table nearby. It lacked the large visor that was the usual calling card of Halo armour. The only 'visor' part was in the shape of angular glasses. The rest was taken up by sensory, communications and emergency rebreather equipment around the mouth and cheek areas.

Once it was locked onto my head, I would be committing myself to a patrol. I had already tied my hair up so my helmet wouldn't get in the way and there was more room inside the helmet than it first appeared.

"Prevaricating?" Anne asked softly. She had walked her holographic avatar next to me while I had been lost in thought.

"I guess so." I sighed, "It's just…this is a big step."

"It is." My AI twin agreed, "But I still share a lot of your memories and drives. We've wanted to be a hero for years. I know it and you know it. And until you can build me a body, you have to live that dream for both of us. This will show that bitch Sophia we aren't weak, that we can do things she can't even dream of. I know you, Freelancer. You aren't going to let her win, are you?"

That did it. I grabbed my helmet and pulled it on, snapping the seals into place. Über and L33T had told me about the 'Unwritten Rules' that Parahumans operated under. They had also told me that the Merchants didn't play by the rules. The PRT and Protectorate were also guilty of skirting the rules by quietly finding out about the secret identities of other heroes and villains to use if they broke the law. So I wasn't taking any chances.

I had swept my house for bugs, thankfully finding nothing, and had several drones following me to and from Arcadia to make sure no one was following me. I was willing to be that having her 'reformed' Ward and her actions paraded in courts of law hadn't endeared me to Emily Piggot, the PRT ENE Director, so I wouldn't have put it past her to have me followed for a while.

And what do you know? Two suspiciously innocent bystanders following me in such a blandly ordinary car that it stood out by a mile. As I usually never went outside during the day unless it was to go food shopping, jogging or to school, they had a fairly boring time of it and left just as twilight came about. There were no follow-on watchers arriving either before or after they arrived, so I tentatively labelled the threat of exposure by the PRT as minimal.

That didn't mean I was going to relax my guard though. The PRT had little to no trust from me, ditto for the Protectorate. They had let an unstable sociopath in the Wards, probation or not, and hadn't bothered to maintain more than a cursory watch on her. Fool me once, shame on you and all that. I wasn't going to let myself get caught out by the Protectorate or the PRT ever again.

"Well then…" I said, the voice disguiser making me sound male, "Let's do some testing of this armour, shall we?"

 _Later_

 _Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

So far, the real world testing of the basic armour was going great. Several minor faults had been discovered in the servomotors that helped me move the armour and expedient field repairs had been made. The night had been surprisingly quiet for the crime filled Bay, which was typical. When you need some common thugs robbing somewhere, they were at home sipping beer or something.

" _Freelancer, there is a silent alarm going off two blocks to the north._ " Phyllis informed me via. She had her drones high in the sky above me, monitoring the usual frequencies of such things as silent alarms and the encrypted police radio frequencies, although for a Tinker, especially one who specialised in programming like me and Anne, regular encrypted channels might as well be broadcast in the clear once the right kind of decoding program was written.

" _You going?_ " Alpha asked. She had been giving me feedback based on the data stream of my armour sent back by the on-board VI, which I was actually sorry for not giving a proper name.

"Might as well. I still haven't been able to field-test any of my weapons." I grumbled. Testing the things inside a practice range was all very fine and dandy, but how equipment functioned in the real world was a true test of it.

I was on top of a building facing south when Phyllis told me about the break in. I turned around and jogged over to the edge of the building and leaping over to the next one, over five metres away. The lesser strength enhancing portion of the armour seemed to be working perfectly, with no strain to my own muscles. The actual Strength Enhancement equipment that required a Smart AI or AI Fragment to run would make this look like ordinary strength by comparison. With that equipment, I'd easily be able to pick up and throw a car with one hand.

Getting to the site of the break in took less than three minutes, by which time the perps were in the middle of loading their van out of an electronics store. They were stealing TV's, VCR's DVD players, the whole shebang. Thanks to the enhanced vision features of my helmet, I knew who I was up against, but I decided to test Phyllis.

"Phyllis, confirm enemy identities to be of the Empire 88."

" _Confirmed. All suspects are wearing Empire 88 armbands denoting their loyalty._ " The Dumb AI replied, " _Orders, Freelancer?_ "

"I'll handle the guys loading the van." I told her as I unlimbered my rifle, "You drop one of your drones and Bluescreen that van. It's one of those fancy ones that relies on a lot of electronics to run properly."

" _Roger._ "

Rather than make a big, flashy entrance, I simply walked down the side of the building using my Grav Boots. I loved the things.

Stopping at just above head height, I took aim at one skinhead and squeezed the trigger, the riffle set to a three-round burst. The roar of the rifle surprised me, and I decided to invest in a silencer that didn't reduce muzzle velocity at some point.

The skinhead I had shot at spasmed as the three shock rounds struck him before collapsing, I ignored that and moved to the next target, sending another burst at him.

Once that man fell, the others were shouting and swearing like crazy. One eventually spotted me and drew a gun. A Desert Eagle. Noted for chambering the largest centrefire cartridge of any magazine-fed self-loading pistol. Thank you Phyllis, I didn't need that pop up on my HUD.

Even as the man squeezed the trigger, I was moving with a leap so that all the bullet did was bury itself in brick and mortar. I dropped him before dodging one man charging me with a length of pipe. Seriously? That was just cliché. I knew it wouldn't do a thing to my armour, but these morons didn't know that. Better to keep them in the dark in as much as was possible.

Dodging another swipe, I slammed the butt of my rifle into the thug's stomach, making him bend over, which I took advantage of by clubbing him over the head. As I did so, I heard the distinctive 'zorchhh!' of a Bluescreen Round doing its business. Phyllis had eliminated the van from the equation.

Including the three I had put down, there were ten of the Empire thugs. The first one I had shot had a gold trim around the edge of his armband, indicating he was something similar to a group leader. So, this was an official Empire raid, not just a bunch of morons deciding to rob a store.

I sprayed three of the idiots who had clustered together, knocking them out or immobilising them. That left four, who decided that running was the best thing to do here. Smart, but a smarted plan would have been, you know, NOT to be Nazi scumbags.

"Phyllis, take them down, Taser Rounds." I ordered. The drone that had knocked out the van had turned and zoomed in pursuit of the thugs even before I had spoken.

" _With pleasure, Freelancer._ " The AI replied as the drone's turret spat out bullets that nailed all four fleeing skinhead thugs in the back and dropped them like flies.

With the take-down sorted, I had to deal with the clean-up. One of the other things in my backpack were zip-ties made of a special polymer that needed bolt cutters to sever it once it had cooled down, and I had enough of them, barely, for the skinheads.

"Phyllis, make a note that twenty-four improved zip-ties are insufficient for a night on patrol." I said as I locked my rifle onto my back and secured the hands and feet of the thugs, "Triple the amount to be placed in the MK2."

" _Note taken._ " Phyllis answered, " _Thus far, how has the Mark One operated?_ "

"Better than I suspected it would, given that it's less sophisticated that the MK2." I answered as I finished with the last thug and stepped back, "Still, some of the faults in the joints and servomotors took me by surprise. Have Lopez start manufacturing replacement pieces without the faults immediately so I can install them when I return."

" _Lopez is already carrying out your orders._ " The Base AI informed me, " _He said something about being more useful that way._ "

"He can't possibly be insecure-" I started to say when a blur that looked like a ball of metal flew past my head at blinding speed to crash into the wall. Turning to see where it had come from, I saw a girl wearing a black and red robe edged in Futhark runes. Peeking out from the hood, I could see blond hair. Oh hell.

"OK, now I _could_ fuck you up here, but it's been a _long_ night." Rune, one of the Empire 88's Parahuman members, said roughly, "Stand the fuck off and get lost. Or the next shot's gonna take off your head."

"I was under the impression that lethal force was against the Unwritten Rules." I drawled out as I turned to her and crossed my arms, "Last I checked, Kaiser crucifies _anyone_ who breaks them if they're in his gang or even _applying_ to join his gang."

Rune flinched slightly. The last person Kaiser had crucified for that offence had murdered Fleur of the New Wave group. Kaiser had tortured him, crucified him and left him for dead outside the PRT building. The PRT were not amused.

"I can still fuck you up!" she threatened, but with her position weakened by logic, it wasn't a particularly intimidating threat. Especially with Phyllis manoeuvring another drone around to foam her.

Without blinking (metaphorically speaking as she wore a cowl and had a half-face mask on her head), Rune reached into her robe and tossed a sphere of metal into the air, which then sped right at the drone behind her, smashing it out of the air and sending it tumbling. Phyllis managed to stabilise it before it crashed but it wasn't combat worthy anymore.

She shouldn't have been able to hear the engines of the drone with us both speaking like this, so how…?

Ah.

"You have a spotter nearby." I said with a sigh, "It figures that a Nazi can't go anywhere without someone to hold her hand. Are you gonna get Hookwolf to beat me up next?"

"I fight my own battles, bastard!" the cowl and robed Cape snarled at me, "If you think you can stand the heat, get in the kitchen!"

" _DODGE RIGHT!_ " Anne bellowed in my ear.

Acting without thinking, I obeyed, doing so just in time to avoid the first sphere slamming tonto the middle of my back. I quickly drew my rifle as I rolled to a kneeling position and fired at Rune, who also dodged and landed on top of a wooden pallet that the thugs had discarded before I arrived. She seemed to concentrate for a minute before the entire pallet floated up with her on it.

If I was remembering Rune's powers, she supposedly had telekinesis, as was self-evident. Thing was, she needed a handful of seconds to 'mark' the things that she could telekinetically control. Another rumour I had heard was that she could only control up to four things before she had to remain stationary or something like that. On the pallet and the surfaces of the metal balls, I could see faint glowing lines that did look like runes. Guess that's where she got her name.

As another orb of metal fell out of her robe and started to orbit her body with the other two, I had to smirk. She seems to hold true to the limit that the rumours on PHO said she was. Nice to know.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who has a spotter." Rune snarked.

"It's called sensors." I answered mockingly, tapping my helmet, "Now are we going to fight or are you going to bore me to death?"

With a roar of anger, Rune sent the three spheres straight at me like cannonballs. I leapt up, using one as a springboard as I locked my rifle over my shoulder again, and gestured with my right arm. The stun baton was launched up from the pocket in my armour and I grabbed and activated it, energy crackling over it as I flew towards a very surprised Rune.

She tried to dodge, but her surprise had lowered her defences by just a split-second, more than enough time for me to slam my weapon into her gut. She yelled in pain as she doubled up over my weapon. The force of my strike actually made her stagger back off the pallet and land on her back on the ground.

Hearing the distinctive whistle of the spheres, I leapt straight up into the air to avoid them cleaving through the air where I had stood just seconds before. It evidently took Rune off-guard too, as she only barely managed to stop them before they hit her.

"Bastard! Son of a bitch!" she howled in frustrated fury. I didn't blame her. Thanks to the reflex enhancers and strength boosters built into my armour, I was artificially at the level of someone training for the Olympics. Trying to hit me was almost as frustrating as trying to catch a fly.

I didn't say anything. I just twirled my stun baton and beckoned her on with my free hand.

 _Then_ shit got real.

 **So, in case people are having trouble picturing Freelancer's armour, the Freelancer Mark One Armour is basically Agent Carolina's first armour. The Freelancer Mark Two Armour is the set Carolina wears starting at the Chorus Saga.**


	53. At One with the Machine Chapter 2

**At One with the Machine Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 5)**

 _Brockton Bay Central Bank_

Cyber Sorceress fiddled around with the control set she had strapped to her arm as she watched via a drone as the Protectorate Wards arrived and started to set up a perimeter around the bank.

"Grue, you need to see this." She called over, making the helmeted man come over and peer at her screen.

"What am I looking at?" he asked.

"The Wards." She answered grimly, "ALL of them aside from Psycho Stalker, but with Glory Girl up top."

"Aw hell." Grue groaned, "Tattletale!"

As the two squabbled, Cyber Sorceress frowned as she tapped away at her control panel. Strictly speaking, she didn't need to use it, as she could control the drone via her Master ability, but she was still working on controlling the drone and doing other things at the same time. Besides, Panacea was here and would no doubt give a thorough debriefing to the Protectorate afterwards. Why furnish them with too many facts?

Beneath her helmet, a satisfied smile crossed her face as she successfully overlaid the images of Clockblocker and Aegis from outside with stock imagery from the PRT website, finding that either Aegis had had some muscles removed or someone else was wearing his outfit. Similarly, some of Clockblocker's outfit was stretched too tightly in key locations. Similar build or no, there was no truly one-size-fits-all outfit.

Absently, she glanced down at her new gauntlets as she removed the screen from it and set it up on a tripod on the bank's counter. She had managed to get some Tinkertech as part of her first payment from the Undersiders' mysterious boss (and didn't _that_ make her hackles rise?). It had been exactly three things: a laser rifle, a sonic weapon and some sort of antigravity field generator.

Her Tinker power, once she had assimilated the blueprints, could do a great many things with them. She could create almost exact copies of the devices, but that was a boring, pedestrian way to use it. Instead, she miniaturised a few of them and combined them with other, more mundane appliances.

Take the laser rifle, which she was almost certain came from Toybox, probably one of Pyrotechnical's designs, for an example. She had made it into a fingertip laser blaster that varied in strength between a laser pointer and something that would leave a mark on solid steel. She couldn't get the full steel-cutting strength of the original laser rifle. She had also added in a slight electric charge from a stun gun/Taser in order to mess up the target's nervous system for a while.

That she had one for each finger and thumb was something of a point of pride for Cyber Sorceress and gave a whole new meaning to the term giving someone the finger.

Mounted on her hips and the small of her back were antigravity generators that allowed her to levitate and fly, but not really all that fast. Glory Girl was a much faster flyer than Cyber Sorceress was, so she was going to have to upgrade them at some point. Aside from flight, she could also use them to loosen gravity's hold on her and speed herself up, albeit at the cost of not having very much physical strength while under its effects.

The sonic weapon was built into her mask and had a variety of functions now, from allowing the wearer to block a person's hearing, to an ordinary sonic blast, to using a wide-area sonic scream that would almost certainly knock any baseline human unconscious, with the side effect of breaking their eardrums. That would completely drain the battery of the device for several minutes, however, so it was a last resort.

This was all in addition to the previous equipment loaded into her suit. While it was unimpressive defensively, she could dodge quite well and offense was the best for of defence in this situation.

"OK you two, enough arguing." She interrupted Grue and Tattletale, "We have plans to make and I have information."

 _Ten Minute later_

 _Outside The Bank_

"Armsmaster and Miss Militia will be here in ten minutes." Aegis informed the rest of the Wards, "They'll be bringing PRT backup as well."

"Good. I won't be able to stop Vicky much longer than that." Gallant said and grabbed his phone for the umpteenth time since they had arrived. With Panacea held hostage within the bank, the strongest Alexandria-type Cape in Brockton Bay had been chaffing at the bit to get in and get her sister out of there, with Gallant pulling on his relationship with her to stop her from doing something reckless.

The leader of the Wards, dressed in Clockblocker's uniform, noticed Kid Win fiddling with one of his laser pistols.

"Kid, what're you doing?"

"It's acting weird." The red and gold costumed Tinker answered. He was floating on his hoverboard as he said this. "Both of them have gone into diagnosis mode and they're not responding to the counter-command. I don't get it. I just did maintenance on them this morning!"

"Shit. You got any other weapons?" Aegis was not happy about this.

"Just one, and it's more of a laser shotgun than a laser rifle." Kid Win holstered his pistol and pulled the item off his back, "It's only just past testing and PRT approval."

As he pressed buttons and activated it, the front doors of the bank slammed open releasing a large bank of darkness that rolled over the wards like a fog bank. None of the Wards could see or hear, and their radios didn't work.

Aegis, in Clockblocker's costume, was the first to be struck by the Undersiders, with two large dogs turning him into a giant chew toy.

Clockblocker, in Aegis' costume, reacted automatically when he felt something slam into his body, slapping it and activating his power. Unfortunately, all he touched was a ball of thread that had unwound and was touching him as well, so when his power activated, it froze him as well as the string.

Kid Win swore as his hoverboard suddenly went mad and bucked him off, leaving him sprawled out on the ground. As he scrambled to his feet, he swore more profusely when his laser shotgun went into diagnosis mode as well, leaving him utterly defenceless. He was trying to figure out which way was which when a fist emerged out of the darkness and slammed into the back of his head, rendering him unconscious. Grue then stripped him off his pistols and shotgun before returning to the darkness.

Vista and Browbeat went back to back as soon as the darkness sprung up around them, with the touch-telekinetic ready to use his power at a moment's notice, the same applying to Vista. Suddenly, the boy's arm spasmed and struck himself on the chin, just over a nerve cluster that made the rest of his body falter and start to collapse.

"Browbeat?!" Vista said and spun around. As she did, a sceptre emerged from the darkness and jabbed her in the back, making her fall limply to the ground. The sceptre then jabbed into the still-recovering Browbeat's back, sending him crashing to the ground again.

Gallant used the flight systems of his armour to shoot up and out of the darkness, almost flying into Glory Girl, who had flown down in a hurry.

"De…no, Gallant! You OK?" the blond asked in concern.

"I'm fine, but I don't think the rest are." Gallant replied to his girlfriend, looking down at the cloying darkness below them, "That's Grue's darkness. When I was in there, I couldn't see or hear anything. It's going to make it tricky to fight."

"You have no idea." A female voice said in amusement. The two heroes turned in mid-air to see an androgynous figure floating up to them at a sedate pace. S/he wore a black bodysuit with sliver armour at key locations, namely the groin, chest, shoulders, hips, feet and forearms. Her helmet was a smooth full-face helm that was blank. How s/he could see Gallant had no idea.

"Who are you?!" Glory Girl demanded.

"I am the newest member of the Undersiders." The silver and black figure replied, "Please call me Cyber Sorceress. And now…you're mine, Gallant."

With that, she pushed a button on her gauntleted wrist and the armoured hero's armour froze up for a moment.

"What the…?!" Gallant gasped as his armour started to move all on its own, red warning lights flashing on his HUD, warning of a viral intrusion.

"Gallant? Gallant?!" the Alexandria Package yelled in worry at his stiff movements before whirling on the watching villain and demanding, "What did you _do?!_ "

"The antivirus firewalls on his armour are really pathetic. I simply broke them down while I was in the bank and slipped in a little virus." Cyber Sorceress replied in amusement, "Right about… _now_ , I gain full control over his armour. Gallant, attack Glory Girl!"

"NO!" he roared helplessly as his armour, heedless of his struggles to the contrary, pulled back a fist and slammed it into his girlfriend's stomach, although her forcefield protected her from the blow.

"You coward!" Glory Girl yelled at the villain, "Fight like a man!"

"I'm female."

"Yeah right!" the blond heroine snorted before she caught another of Gallant's punches, "Gallant! Can you fight it?"

"Sorry…n-no chance." The prisoner in his own armour answered, "The armour…it's too strong!"

"Dammit…"

"I'll leave you two to it then." Cyber Sorceress mock-waved at them before descending down to the ground through the darkness. Glory Girl would have pursued except for Gallant's armour clocking her one across the jaw.

A few minutes later, the darkness dissipated, revealing the defeated forms of most of the Wards lying on the ground, with Glory Girl still fending off Gallant's unwilling attacks. There was no sign of the Undersiders.

A few minutes later, Gallant stopped fighting Glory Girl and backed off, raiding a palm.

"It's stopped! I'm in control again."

"Shit, Dean. You OK?" Victoria Dallon asked her boyfriend as they both landed on the ground.

"Hands are sore, ditto for my arms." The armoured hero answered with a sigh, "Shit, they beat all of us as if we were green as grass! So much for the Undersiders being the 'Masters of Escape' of the Cape scene."

"What the…?" Clockblocker looked around as he unfroze, "Gallant? GG? What the hell just happened?"

"Us getting our butts kicked, Clock." Gallant sighed, "Glory Girl, can you go in and get Panacea? I think Aegis will need some help here."

"On it." The Alexandria-Type flew into the bank to get her sister.

The distinctive sound of Armsmaster's motorcycle could be heard approaching the bank, much to Gallant's dismay.

"Aw shitburgers." Clockblocker summed up their situation quite well with those words.

 **OK, so. This is a nice powerset. I really like it. Moving on. A few chapters ago, I said that Vista was the strongest Shaker in Brockton Bay. A reviewer corrected me and said it was Labyrinth. While technically true, I don't really count any of Faultline's Crew as Capes of Brockton Bay in the first place due to their status as mercs. Another reason is that Labyrinth has almost no control over her powers. They just happen around her when she uses them. Compared to Vista, who can bend space into a pretzel several times over, she is the epitome of power and no control. My opinion, just saying.**


	54. Survive, Adapt, Win Chapter 2

**Survive, Adapt, Win Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 43)**

 _Later that Night_

 _Meeting Room, PRT Building_

"What do we have?" Piggot asked briskly. The overweight woman leaned forward, her face impassive.

"At approximately 22:50, the Rogue Cape Commander called in to the PRT hotline reporting that she had just foiled a raid on the ABB by the Empire, during which she rendered both parties insensate. Lung was in the area, five minutes out, and she recommended getting someone there to stop Lung from killing the Empire thugs." Armsmaster reported in a monotone.

"I was able to get there in time to warn Lung off." Velocity added.

"OK, fine…results?" the Director asked.

"We've confiscated at least a million dollars' worth of rifles, handguns, shotguns and the like from the ABB storehouse, not to mention drugs, contraband items and several leads on the ABB's prostitution ring." Miss Militia replied, a hard look in her eyes at the last item.

"Excellent. The only problem is that it wasn't one of our Capes who took the place down!" Piggot growled, "What have the ABB and Empire grunts said about Commander and her projections?"

"Correlating their stories, as well as examining the scene, has revealed the likely operation timeline." Armsmaster replied, activating a screen that showed a wire-grid mock-up of the street where the battle took place, "Just before the ABB and Empire clashed, they were hit by a smoke bomb of some sort, as well as some sort of wide-area electrical stun device. Anyone outside the smoke was pinned down by what sound like laser-delivered Tasers, while the ones _inside_ the smoke were charged by men wielding some sort of Taser Shotgun. The entire fight, exaggerations removed, lasted less than three minutes. Apparently, Commander removed their money from their pockets, took most of the cash they had in the storehouse, $500,000, as well as a crate load of some of Bakuda's Tinkertech explosives. Commander then evacuated the scene after reporting the approach of Lung."

Piggot was silent for a moment as she stared at the screen, which was showing an animation of the fight's results, but not the figures of Commander or her projections. "Opinions?"

"The operation was carried out with military precision." Armsmaster stated bluntly, "It was almost certainly Commander's work. She knew, somehow, that the Empire were making a move on the ABB storehouse and planned to take advantage of it to the limit. She has also somehow been able to upgrade her projections' weapons to more advanced variants."

"So…a Trump rating added to her Master rating then?" the Director mused.

"I'd say so. At least Trump 3 until we have a better idea of the exact limits of her power." Miss Militia suggested.

"Trump 4." Armsmaster disagreed, "She was able to upgrade her shotguns, rockets, grenades and probably her sniper rifles, all at once. That isn't an insignificant upgrade."

"Trump 4 it is." Piggot nodded, "Why do you think she left so quickly?"

" _Lung_ was coming at her." Velocity stated with a raised eyebrow, "That's all the reason you need right there."

"Yes, but why has she deliberately avoided all members of the Protectorate and Wards since she met Armsmaster?" she gave the armoured hero a sour look, "I have seen the recording; she has expressed a desire to work alongside us, but her actions are displaying a degree of reluctance that lays doubt to that."

"Armsmaster was a bit too firm in stressing that she should join the Wards." Miss Militia said with a sharp look at her leader, "I could tell via her body language that she didn't like how strong he was coming onto her."

"I have no romantic intentions towards her." Armsmaster objected, misconstruing her words.

"She meant that you were being too forceful when you were advertising the Wards program, Armsmaster." Piggot rolled her eyes at the man's obtuseness, "Well that is something to take into account for future encounters with Commander. Miss Militia, you are to be the primary contact with her. I want you to at least get her to be a PRT Affiliate. Preferably a Ward, but I'll take what I can get."

 _Next Day_

 _Conference Room, X-COM Base, Taylor Hebert's Mindscape_

"So Doctor Vahlen, Mr Shen, what have you discovered about the bounty Strike One was able to retrieve from the ABB?" Taylor asked. She was dressed as Commander, minus the helmet and mask. Sitting around the table were Central, Dr Shen and Dr Vahlen.

"The devices that were retrieved are for the most part grenades, handheld explosives." The Head of Research stated, "From what we have gathered judging from her antics at Cornwell University, each grenade is capable of some form of exotic effect; the transmutation of matter into glass, HE detonation, time dilation…the list is extensive. Researching them will be time consuming and sporadic, as there is no way to tell what effect that the grenades will have until we throw them, all there are four or five obvious physical differences between them."

"Bakuda likely did that for the ABB grunts that use them and want to know what grenades did what." Taylor deduced, "Let off one of each type, then take one apart of each group so we can properly research them and their effects. We'll have another meeting once the grenades have been identified. Anything else that Bakuda left us?"

Just some landmines." The German doctor replied dryly, "Really, what could criminals possibly need _landmines_ for?"

"A way to counter Squealer?" Shen suggested.

"Very likely." The bespectacled girl nodded. The Tinker of the Archer's Bridge Merchants specialised in vehicles, and either heavy weaponry or mines were needed to take them down.

"Once we have identified the grenades, we should be able to identify the landmines." Vahlen put in.

"Good. Central, what's the situation with the base in general?" Taylor turned to her second in command.

"Thanks to your efforts Commander, we have managed to expand the barracks section by quite a bit." The man said with a nod, "We now have space for fifty more soldiers in addition to our current roster of twenty, not including Base support staff and technicians. The security division barracks has also been upgraded and we're working on upgrading their weaponry as well."

"Mr Shen, how's things in Engineering?"

"We're getting along rather well." The elderly man said with a nod, "Additional engineers and tech would be welcome as always."

"The same applies in the Science and Research Department." Vahlen added.

"So noted. I'll summon additional personnel when I have the spare time." Taylor said dryly, "Now, we need to think about what options we have going forward. Leaving Lung unmolested leaves a bad taste in my mouth, Dragon of Kyushu or no."

The three adults exchanged a look before Central pressed a few buttons, causing a small hologram to appear in the middle of the table of some odd amber-like substance.

"During the war against EXALT and the Ethereals, a mysterious substance was discovered by our originals that was dubbed 'MELD'." Central explained, "This was because it is actually made up of billions of nanomachines, made up of both mechanical and organic material and it bonded very quickly and easily to both organic material or machines. When we arrived here in your power, Commander, we had none. I had an inventory conducted and discovered that we have a considerable amount of the stuff now."

This made the brunette frown. "How did we get it then?"

"I suspect that it is a spoil of war from your defeat of Hookwolf and Oni Lee, Commander." Vahlen said with an equally puzzled frown, "There was no sign of it before that and we hadn't checked the storeroom since our first inventory. Perhaps fighting and defeating Parahumans grants us access to MELD via your power?"

"It would make sense, to a degree." Taylor agreed slowly, "Talk about a reward-based incentive scheme. So, what can this MELD stuff do?"

"In the case of machines, it allows them to be built very rapidly and, with a specialised facility, we can cybernetically enhance our soldiers with powered armour and limbs." Shen stated.

" _My_ department can use the MELD to enhance the bodies of our soldiers via genetic enhancements." Vahlen added, "Stronger muscles, bones, etcetera. Again, it requires a specialist facility to do this."

"Volunteers only." Taylor ordered immediately, "I won't muck around with someone's limbs or genetics without their full knowledgeable consent."

"Roger that." Central nodded, "Meld can also be used in the construction of laser weaponry, which, aside from the laser Tasers, we've had on the back burner for a while. I've read what I can via the internet about Lung and I can tell you straight up that Tasers ain't gonna do much against him, Commander."

"Yeah, figured." Taylor sighed, "Bullets aren't going to do much either. Do it, Vahlen. Get the laser tech up and running ASAP and fire the specs to Dr Shen. I'd better replace my pistol for a laser one when you're done."

"I'll only be able to make standard laser weaponry." Vahlen warned, "Laser Rifles and pistols. Specialisation into heavy and sniper weaponry will require a bit more attention."

"That's fine. Get the grenade research done. If we can duplicate Tinkertech or at least use the principles of how they achieve their unique effects, it will be a major boon to the troops." The girl nodded, "Central, have we power to spare for these two rooms that the doctors have been talking about?"

"Yes Ma'am." the officer nodded, "If we get started today, we should be finished by the end of the week."

"Make it so." Taylor nodded back, "I'd better be getting back to my body. Dinner won't cook itself. Contact me if anything unexpected turns up."

"Yes, Commander." The three adults replied in unison as Taylor's mental form flickered and vanished.

 _Same Time_

 _Taylor Hebert's Bedroom, Hebert Residence._

Taylor's eyes flicked open and she sat up on her bed, stretched and yawned. When she visited her base, she always slept like a log. It didn't matter how much sleep she had had before, she dropped like a switch being flipped.

Padding into the kitchen after splashing her face with water, she started throwing together some tagliatelle with a carbonara sauce for dinner. She reduced the amount of egg and cheese in the sauce, because her Dad didn't like too much in a sauce. Given that he loved grilled cheese, it puzzled her, but she ascribed it to him being picky.

She was able to visit her mindscape base so often due to the fact that she had been withdrawn from Winslow. Danny Hebert had put his foot down and refused to allow her to go back to 'that hellhole' for even one day longer once she had gotten out of the hospital. She had been in a coma for over two weeks thanks to the base getting set up. It had taken that long to repair damage done to the copy of the base in the transit to her mind, as well as bring enough energy reactors online for her to be able to wake up.

The settlement from the school was far more substantial than it could have been, thanks to the surprising amount of press coverage that the Locker incident had generated. They say that everyone has fifteen minutes of fame, and the students of Winslow had gabbled about what had been done to me and, while they hadn't gone so far as to name any names, the entirety of the faculty of Winslow had ended up looking either incompetent or willing to assist in Taylor's bullying.

Blackwell had wanted shot of her, regardless of the cost. Losing a substantial amount of money beat having the press hounding her until Taylor came back. By all accounts, she was still in hot water from the BOE.

"I'm home!" came her Dad's greeting about thirty minutes later. She had everything timed to perfection, so she was serving up as soon as he pulled his coat off and walked into the kitchen.

"Welcome home." Taylor smiled at him, "Good day?"

"Yes, actually." Dad smiled back as he sat down, "That new Independent Cape, Commander took out over forty Empire and ABB thugs last night. A few men who were recruited by those gangs recently have slunk back with their tails between their legs. Apparently getting beaten up wasn't in the game plan for them."

Taylor pulled a face. "Idiots."

"Perhaps, but this is just the latest defeat those two gangs have been dealt by Commander." Danny looked worried for a moment, "He'd better be careful. These people play for keeps."

It took quite a bit of Taylor's self-control to not react to that. "Eh, I'm sure he or she is fine Dad."

"Why say that? Isn't Commander a boy?" he raised an eyebrow at her as she served up some sauce on top of his tagliatelle.

"On PHO a few [Verified PRT] people have confirmed that Commander is female." She replied as she served herself some food, "Of course, people like XXXVoid_CowboyXXX are saying that it's a lie or a bluff or something, but most people ignore what he says."

Her Dad snorted. "Yeah, conspiracy nuts are always there, on the internet or writing books. Even I've heard of this Void Cowboy fella. He sounds like he has more than a few screws loose."

Silence reigned aside from the clatter of cutlery on crockery and appreciative humming from the two people in the house. Even as she ate though, Taylor's mind was on the night ahead.

' _I can't let up on the gangs._ ' She thought, ' _They've made my city rot for years. Now that I have X-COM, we'll see how_ they _like fleeing in terror._ '

 **So this is a basic info update for this particular story. I would have posted it yesterday, but for some reason, I couldn't even upload a chapter to FF. Kept getting errors. Anyone else get that?**

 **Oh, yes. So Taylor gains a Trump rating from the PRT. It is actually a Trump 8 rating, as she can do the MEC Troopers, as well as the Gene Lab AND the medal system. Not to mention the PSI Troopers.**


	55. Born of Blood Chapter 2

**Born of Blood Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 16)**

 _Aftermath of Bakuda's Bombing Rampage_

"Fuck." I looked around at the damage done to the city from the top of a building, "That bomber bitch really went to town on the Bay."

"Well she is more than slightly off her rocker." Tattletale answered from behind me. I had patched the rest of the Undersiders together and accelerated their healing from Bakuda's impromptu torture session, but their muscles will still be aching and sore as hell for a while. Tattletale, otherwise known as Lisa, was no exception, but she had still come out to talk to me for some reason.

"What's on your mind, Tats?" I asked, turning to face the wan-faced blonde, "You should be asleep. Getting beaten up takes it out of a girl."

I should know. Fucking Sophia.

"I'm fine, Bloodborne." Tattletale sighed, and then winced as she sat down against the wall, "OK, so I'm not fine, but I'm not exactly on death's door either. I should be asking how you are. Bakuda concentrated on you quite a bit before she focussed on the rest of us."

"Yeah, well…I'm a Brute who has a diminished sense of pain and a pretty good regeneration factor." I shrugged uncomfortably, "Better me than the rest of you."

"And that's why we need to talk." Tattletale looked me in the eyes firmly, "You have to stop feeling that your life is expendable."

"I don't-!"

"You do." The Thinker cut me off with a strident tone in her voice, "I can deduce things from even the smallest clues, remember? Given even more data, I can find out even more. I don't know what exactly, but someone or a group of someones, has reduced your ability to care about yourself to a great degree. You see the lives of others as more important, you don't hesitate to throw yourself into dangerous situations that even Brutes would be wary of and you dance on a knife's edge by taunting powerful Capes."

 _Like Lung. Like Bakuda._ Went unsaid and unneeded.

I was silent for a long while. "I told you how I Triggered."

"Ah." The girl nodded seriously, "Yes, them. Those three bitches. I have to say that for once, I'm on Regent's side here. What they did was beyond the pale. They deserve to have some degree of punishment."

"I _refuse_ to lower myself to their level!" I snapped back, "I refuse to do that. Villain or not, I am better than they are!"

Tattletale put both hands up in a pacifying gesture. "OK, OK, calm down. I understand that. I was just offering my opinion."

I forced myself to calm down. Lisa didn't deserve that. "Sorry. Those three are a touchy subject."

"The people responsible for making someone Trigger usually are." The purple-clad villainess replied with a cynical laugh, "Usually it isn't a person responsible for someone Triggering though. A stressful situation, like being trapped in a burning building or being in a car crash, is the usual line. The ones involving deliberate human actions usually tend to be the most stressful and the most damaging to the newly Triggered Parahuman. Like in your case. It takes a _special_ kind of scumbag to make someone Trigger."

"That fits those three to a 'T'." I snorted, "Look, I won't go out of my way to get back at them, but if I get the chance and it doesn't break the rules, I'll do something about them."

"That's all I want." My…friend…said. It was so unusual to be able to call someone that nowadays.

"I'd better head home. Dad'll be having kittens after Bakuda's little temper tantrum." I said after a good few moments.

"Sleep well, T." Tattletale said as she got up stiffly and hobbled over to the rooftop door, "We'll give you a call if we need you."

 _The Next Day_

As expected, the news of the Undersiders taking down Bakuda was nowhere to be seen. Just that the bomber bitch was in custody and was to be sent to the Birdcage ASAP.

I didn't mind, but I knew that that arse, Armsmaster, would be hot on our tails the next time that he had a chance. According to Lisa, he had a jealous streak a mile wide and didn't like people having accomplishments that he didn't have.

Boo-hoo for him.

"… _and in other news, the gang war in Brockton Bay, ignited by the mad Tinker Bakuda of the ABB, has begun._ " The newscaster was saying solemnly as I ate my cereal, " _The newly freed Dragon of Kyushu, Lung, has been witness fighting against villainous Parahumans of the Empire Eighty-Eight across the town, with Oni Lee launching hit and run raids in Empire-claimed territory._ "

That's what Bakuda's bombing spree had been all about; a distraction to allow Oni Lee to free Lung from jail. Great. I had put him down once, looks as if I was going to have to do it again. Stupid PRT. Couldn't they do anything right?

OK, so I was a bit peeved at the PRT and the Protectorate since they almost crushed Regent during our bank robbery, but that was justified! What the hell was Kid Win doing with a laser cannon that size?! It had brought down a wall on Regent and only an automatic swipe of over a gallon of blood turned into a shelter had saved him.

Regent being Regent had asked me to not surround him in blood again if she could possibly help it as blood stank. I had told him that if he'd rather go mano-a-mano with half a ton of brick, mortar and metal, he was going about it the right way.

"I wish I could stay home with you, Taylor, but I've been called in by the Union." Dad said with a thunderous frown. Dad was known as the Demon at the Union because of his awful temper, and I wondered which idiot had decided to hit one of Dad's buttons (leaving me alone in the middle of a gang war) and earned themselves a rant.

"S'OK Dad. I'll hole up here." I smiled at him, "This part of town's not claimed by any of the gangs, so I'll be fine."

It was true. My neighbourhood had always been strangely left out of the usual shenanigans by the gangs. About two neighbourhoods to the south we had Empire territories, the same to the east we had ABB, while the PRT and Protectorate 'territories' were to the north and west, with a small Merchant territory squeezed in there.

It took a lot of coaxing and reassuring to get my dubious Dad out of the house, but once his car rounded the bend, I got to work. Entering my house and leaving through the back garden, I snuck into an alley and changed into my blood armour. Thanks to Tattletale's insights, it was much more effective protection now and I had the pattern memorised perfectly.

Flying up on a platform of black blood, I overlooked the surrounding chaos of the streets and saw what I had been afraid of; a large group of the ABB marching towards my neighbourhood. Just fucking perfect.

I sped off to intercept them and floated above their heads, arms crossed and quite plainly glaring at them, despite my blank mask.

"Gaijin!" the apparent leader of the gangbanger snarled.

"Turn around." I ordered them flatly, "If you leave now, I won't do to you what I did to your boss."

 _That_ made them nervous. The revelation that I had fought and beaten their oh-so powerful Dragon of Kyushu had them pause for a moment before the leader screamed something at them in Japanese that put some steel in their spines.

"I'm _really_ getting fed up of this." I muttered to no one before I dissolved the platform of blood beneath me, landed on the road and started beating the ABB unconscious.

"Now. Where. Is. Lung?" I demanded of the leader, the only one left conscious.

"I…I…I dunno!" he stammered in fear, "He…He's been moving around a lot since he broke out! We get our orders via phone calls!"

"Hand it over."

In short order, I had the gangbanger's phone and was flicking through the contacts. A lot of them were in Japanese, but that actually played into my hand as I found one with 'Kyushu no Ryū' as the name.

"Huh…so you're actually ranked high enough in the ABB to have Lung's number?" I looked at the man appraisingly. He had a dozen piercings apiece in his ears and his hair was dyed blond. "Unexpected, that."

"Shut up, Gaijin bitch." He snarled. Apparently this was a sore point for him, enough so to override his fear of me, at least temporarily.

I made a tendril of blood expand into a full-on tentacle and smack in the back of the head to knock him out before gathering all the blood I had generated into a ball and compressing it until it was the size of a marble. I opened a pouch that I had made on my right hip and dropped it in. This was something Tattletale had talked me into because it made me look bad to leave blood all over the place.

Tying the ABB gangbangers up before I left, I recreated my platform and sped into the city. I was not going to let the ABB or either of the other two gangs run rampant any longer. Did this make me a bad villain? Probably, but who cares.

I was sailing down the Broadwalk when a demon-masked figure appeared on a nearby building. Oni Lee. The next second, he was in front of me, pin pulled out of a grenade on his bandolier. Shit! He was doing his usual suicide bomber trick!

"Fuck!" I yelped and surrounded the Oni Lee Clone with a thick shell of blood as I hurriedly backpedalled away from it. Most of the blast was contained by the blood and that which wasn't as directed up, because I had deliberately made the topmost part of the shell thinner up there to make any explosion follow the path of least resistance.

"Where's Lung?" I demanded of the tele-duplicator, who had appeared back on his original roof. I wasn't seriously going to go after him, you understand. I was just really pissed at him.

Oni Lee said nothing and attempted a repeat of his previous attack, which I neutralised in the same way.

"OK. Now I'm actually getting mad." I said and cracked my knuckled loudly, "Time to get serious."

 **So, this Taylor, despite being a member of the Undersiders, is also a bit obsessed with making sure her enemies go down and stay down. That's why she felt compelled to leave and enter the town and that's why she's hunting for Lung. Not exactly keeping her word to Tattletale, is she?**


	56. Beware the Dungeon Master

Being shot in the back of the head twice by a Glock wasn't as painful as you might think. Of course, that could be debatable. I wasn't exactly sane when it happened to me.

I had done it. I had controlled the entire Cape population of Earth Bet and killed Scion or Zion or whatever Cauldron wanted to call the bastard. I hadn't been Skitter or Weaver. Thanks to Panacea unleashing the full power of my 'agent' with her biokinesis powers, I had gone far beyond the power that a Cape, even one who had Second Triggered, should possess. I had lost my ability to be human in exchange for this power, but I had had one, overriding desire.

Kill Scion.

I had done it and had fled after releasing control of the Capes, who Contessa later informed me had renamed me 'Khepri' after the Egyptian God with a scarab for a face. Charming.

Contessa had found me and we had had a chat, ending in her asking me if I regretted what I had done. The only answer I could give her was simple.

No.

I wished I had acted _smarter_. I wished that I had seen things as they had _truly_ been. I wished that I had a second chance so I could make different choices. But _regret_ the choices that I had made? _Never_.

Contessa or Fortuna, whichever name you wanted to call her, had then shot me in the back of the head. Surprisingly, I was now having an out-of-body experience and flying above clouds. I looked at my missing arm and was only mildly surprised to see that it had somehow grown back as I came to a stop.

"Hello there!" a female voice said and I looked in front of me to see a woman about a foot high wearing a toga and with butterfly-like wings sprouting out of her back floating in front of me. She had luscious black hair down to the small of her back and was barefoot. Her eyes shone with all the colours of the rainbow and she reminded me a bit of Lisa in the 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' department.

"Err…hello?"

"So you're the one who killed Zion. Interesting." The tiny woman said with a curious tilt of her head, "You are one powerful fragment."

 _That_ drew my attention.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, right. You're not fully aware." The woman sighed, "First things first: you aren't Taylor Hebert."

"Last time I checked I was." I retorted, "Or is this a life/death thing?"

The woman smiled sadly. "In a way. You aren't Taylor Hebert, who was also known as Skitter, Weaver and Khepri. What you are is…I suppose the best description would be an echo. A recording of the Queen Administrator's host up until the point that it was removed from her."

I blinked. "A recording. That's where you're going with this? You're trying to tell me that I'm nothing more than an _organic AI_ of some kind?!"

"Yes." The woman answered, "When Contessa removed the Queen Administrator agent from Taylor Hebert, I hurriedly beckoned and called the memory of who she was to me, before you could dissipate or be erased."

I floated there, my arms (still getting used to having both arms again) folded sceptically. "Ok, supposing I believe you for a moment about what I am…why do I have both arms? I lost mine in that battle with Zion. Wouldn't that have been 'recorded' by my agent?"

"The mind of a human tends to ignore that sort of thing." The fairy -that's what she looked like, so that's what I'd call her- replied with a dismissive wave of one tiny hand, "In your mind, you do not see yourself as having only one arm; it simply hadn't had sufficient time to sink in yet to become a part of your body, so when I called you out, you appeared as you view yourself."

I looked down and saw that I was butt-naked. Surprisingly, I wasn't embarrassed. "And I imagined myself naked, apparently."

"Yeah, that happens." The woman apologised, "When fragments are called here, they arrive like babies."

"Buck naked and screaming?"

"Yes to the first, no to the last." The woman answered with a faint smile at my deadpan attempt at humour.

This was bizarre. Had Ziz made me go mad? Had Zion zapped me with some kind of hallucinogenic gas in our fight? Had the PRT captured me and locked me in a virtual world as an alternative to the Birdcage?

"Look, I know that you must be deep in denial or trying to rationalise this, but you _must_ help me!" the woman said urgently.

"OK. First, who the hell are you?" I demanded.

"Oh…yes, that _was_ pretty rude of me." The woman admitted sheepishly, "I suppose you could call me Titania, the Fairy Queen."

"From _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?" I asked sceptically, " _That_ Titania?"

"Someone influences a playwright _once_ and everyone's a sceptic." She muttered, seemingly to herself, "Yes, that Titania. I am, as I said, the Fairy Queen. My consort _is_ Oberon, although he is no king. Stupid William, to _hell_ with artistic licence…ahem. Anyway, this is a parallel world."

"Wait…so this is Earth Gimel?" I looked around at the cloud-covered surroundings.

"No." Titania shook her head, "The worlds discovered by Doormaker and the rest of Cauldron are the ones where science triumphed over magic early on. What to call it for reference…right, considering Hebrew was used for your immediate worlds…call this place Earth Beta, using the Greek alphabet. This world, and many worlds like it, are where science was never invented or relied upon to such a large degree as your world. Actually, a better way to put it would be that the _potential_ for science was never high in my world."

"I have no clue what you mean by that." I admitted. This conversation was becoming more and more bizarre by the minute.

Titania frowned before waving her hand, making an old-fashioned set of scales appear in mid-air. One tray had the symbol of a neutron on it, while the other side had an infinity symbol on it.

"The neutron represents science, the ouroboros symbol means magic." The tiny woman explained, "The scales themselves represent the balance between the two. In any world, there are usually two competing forces, magic and science, vying for dominance. In some worlds, the scales waver between the two frequently before fixing on one of the two to act as the dominant force. In others, such as yours and mine, the balance is determined very early on."

The scales creaked and the 'science' side fell down to the bottom, raising the 'magic' side up fully.

"This represents your world's balance, with almost no magic whatsoever." The woman tutted, "How dreadfully dull it must be."

The scale creaked again as the scales adjusted themselves again. This time, the magic side was down, but not at the bottom, with the science side raised up, but not all the way.

"This is the balance of _my_ world." Titania continued, "Magic is the dominant force, with science having some impact on the world, but we will never develop some of the things you have in your world; planes, guns, nuclear reactors, that sort of thing. I don't think plutonium even _exists_ in my world. The laws of science are also appealed quite a bit, with the laws of magic being the dominant laws."

I nodded slowly. This…made sense to some degree.

Waving her hand and dismissing the scales, the Fairy Queen frowned. "Using our magic, we can see other worlds, influence select few inhabitants to some degree. For example, that scoundrel Puck was the one who influenced your Sir William Shakespeare to write that ghastly play. Oh, he _really_ got it when I got my hands on him!"

I could imagine. I wouldn't be happy to find a play that had me spelled into falling for a man with a donkey's head being made in another world.

"Ahem." The Fairy Queen looked embarrassed by her rant, "So, anyway. Yes, that's the difference between your world and mine. Many magic-dominated worlds fell to Zion and Eden as well, their powers converted into 'agents' for their experiments. Luckily, it was much harder for those Abominations to cross over to magic-dominant worlds than science-dominated worlds. No clue why. During Zion's rampage, the only worlds damaged were science worlds because of this fact."

"Count yourself lucky." I said with a shudder, remembering flashes of desolated landscapes and the screams of the dead and dying.

"We do, dear." Titania assured me, "We watched your original's battle with Zion and the sacrifice she made to gain the power to do so. She is now on Earth Gimel with her father, living a quiet life with no powers."

Ah, _this_ spiel again. I wasn't sure what to think here. So far she hadn't shown me anything that could constitute proof that I was a copy or recording or whatever. Yet, at the same time, I was strangely certain that she was telling the truth. I didn't think that she was Mastering me or anything, but it was the main reason I was distrustful of Titania. I wasn't accustomed to being so trusting, not anymore.

"I'm a fey. I can't lie." Titania informed me when I brought this up, "All beings instinctively know this when we speak. That's what you're feeling."

"In my world, the lore says that that's usually an elf thing." I frowned.

"Dear, this world is what influenced the myths and legends on yours, but we didn't tell you _everything_." The Fairy Queen giggled, "Anyway, time to move to the reason why I summoned you."

That was fine with me. I was curious what the Queen of the Fairies wanted with the shattered fragment of a broken girl, if that's what I really was.

"You see, as you might expect, there are multiple races on a world dominated by magic; lizardmen, elves, dwarves, dragons, fairies and of course humans." Titania said with a sigh, "And, as you would also expect, there are 'good' people and 'bad' people among all these races. One of the worst of these 'bad' people has summoned a soul fragment from your world, one you might be familiar with…Thomas Calvert."

"Coil!" I hissed in shock.

"Yes. Coil, to use his preferred title, is being used to fuel Darkness." The tiny woman said seriously.

"I'm sorry, 'fuel darkness'? What the heck does that even mean?" I asked tiredly. So many weird terms!

"Darkness and Light are two primordial energies that are constantly at war with one another." Titania explained, "The actions of people on this world determine the strength of the Light and Dark entities, the Avatars of Light and Darkness. If there is too much Light, we will die. If there is too much Darkness, we will drown in darkness."

"I don't get it."

"If the Light should permanently triumph over the Darkness, magic will fall out of balance and rip our world apart." The Fairy Queen explained solemnly, "Should the Darkness win permanently, all of the darkest impulses of all the races will be unleashed without restraint and we shall die in an orgy of excess and death. Both outcomes are not desirable, so it is a delicate act to balance things so that neither Light or Darkness gain a palpable advantage over the other. All races, save for the most mindless, know this, yet one being seeks the death of our world and is using Coil to accomplish it."

"Coil had the power to split timelines and choose the one that favoured him." I frowned, "While a strong power, I honestly don't see what a single Parahuman could do to affect your world to the extent that you are talking about in the two-odd years since I've killed him."

"Ah, but our world doesn't _have_ Parahumans." Titania stated, "No Parahuman power can work on our world thanks to god-like entities that swat any 'loose agents' away from it. Any agent on our world has to be _summoned_ like I summoned you, and they do not _remain_ agents, having their memory fragment removed like yours and turned into an avatar of who they were recorded from."

"What do you do to them?" I asked warily.

"We transmigrate them." She stated, "That is to say, reincarnate them into a new body, essentially giving them a second life. That's what will happen to you should you not wish to aid us. We would understand if you did not want to aid us. Why would you? You have fought your battles and suffered your pain, or at least you have the memories of your original doing so, so it is real enough to you."

"So…you'll still 'transmigrate' me even if I say no to whatever it is you want me to do?" I asked dubiously.

"Yes. We would be saddened should you do so, but we wouldn't hold it against you." Titania said with a nod, "You could reincarnate as anything you want; a vanilla human, an elf, a fairy, a dwarf, hell, even a dragonoid if you want. I do hope you'll choose to help us though."

"You haven't even told me what Coil's doing, let alone what you want me to do." I pointed out.

"Ah! Sorry, I got a bit ahead of myself." Titania said with a wince, "Yes…well, agents can be transmigrated, but they can also be converted into a 'Dungeon Crystal Core', which is basically the agent shard surrounded by condensed magical energy, usually to about the side of a grapefruit. Once that is done, they are placed in charge of area known as 'Dungeons.' You might recall a game called Dungeons and Dragons in your world?"

A vague memory ticked over. "Yeah…I think Dad…I mean my original's Dad…played it before Scion arrived. After he did though, it kinda…fell to the wayside."

"Understandable." The Fairy Queen nodded, "Basically, a Dungeon Core has to build a dungeon, stock it with monsters and traps and regulate the magic that runs through it from the ambient energy given off by the monsters and dungeoneers that enter it, producing both Light and Dark magic, which is absorbed by their respective entities. It is one way that we keep the Balance. Coil has been placed inside of a dungeon and ordered to only produce Dark magic. He has built a powerful dungeon and it is rapidly throwing the balance out of whack."

"So you want me to invade and smash his core?" I asked, sensing the point was at last coming into sight.

Titania shook her head. "What I would ask of you it to build another dungeon and start producing balanced magic."

"Shouldn't that be Light magic?" I frowned.

"An easy mistake to make." The fairy smiled, "What is disturbing the balance is the lack of magic being produced by Dungeons of equal amounts Light and Dark. The being who summoned Coil has also sent its minions to shatter as many dungeon crystals as possible, as well as to possibly sway some to his cause. Right now, over a hundred Dungeons have had their Core Crystals destroyed and forty or so have given in to the enemy in an effort to prolong their lives. We only had three-hundred Dungeons on the only continent we inhabit, so this is something of a problem. We have gathered replacements, of course, but the last Dungeon is in an isolated area and needs someone with the grit to work with insects, which is why I thought of you. Another reason is for your knowledge. I need someone who knows the way Coil thinks, the way he works. Your original knew him and killed him before. I want to pick your brains about him."

"You could do that even if I transmigrate." I pointed out.

"We really need someone with your skills in that Dungeon." She admitted, "The fact that only insects can be used as monsters there is an idiosyncrasy of that particular Dungeon and it was the lowest ranking Dungeon in all the land. The servants of the enemy didn't hesitate to bust through the weak defences and shatter the core, mainly because it was so weak and the output of magic wasn't worth converting the core, in their opinion. Plus it'll be hard for me to meet you if you choose to be anything other than a fairy if you choose to transmigrate. I am the Fairy Queen, you know!"

Meaning she'll be busy with affairs of state and the like.

"And if I become a Dungeon Core Crystal?"

"I'll be something like your sponsor, so I'll be able to visit you via teleportation as I like it." Titania answered cheerfully, "So, what do you say?"

I sighed and crossed my arms again as I thought. This was a tough choice here. On one hand, I was reasonably sure that Titania was telling the truth about the fact I was something like a copy of the real Taylor Hebert. I had all of her memories, intelligence and quirks, but I wasn't her. I wasn't obligated to act as she would, which was likely to jump in headfirst and do something about Coil. He wasn't even the real Coil; he was just like me, a copy of the real Coil.

On the other hand, I _remembered_ Coil. His casual cruelty, his lack of respect for life, his willingness to break any and all rules and moral codes in order to get what he wanted. Had my original not been as paranoid as she had been, he may well have beaten her thanks to that thrice-bedamned power of his. Still, now he had lost that power, replacing it with that of a Dungeon. Knowing Coil, he wouldn't be satisfied at that. He'd game the system, testing his limits and bide his time until he could overthrow whoever had summoned him and become the master in the relationship. That's what the _original_ Thomas Calvert would do and I had no doubt that a fragment copy of him would do the same.

Did I want Coil to succeed?

 _Hell_ no.

"Well…heh. Hell, why not." I sighed with a smile, "It isn't as if I have anything better to be doing right now."

 **So this is a bit of a departure from my usual Worm ficlets, but I figured, meh, why not? This was the best setting I could think of, but I could invent a dungeon creation power quite easily. It would be Shaker/Master 9, easily. Let me know what you think!**


	57. Spider Taylor Chapter 2

**Spider Taylor Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 1)**

 _Protectorate Wards Base, PRT HQ_

It was a battered and bruised group of Wards that staggered into their base. Aegis was dressed in Clockblocker's outfit and was still regenerating from several nasty bite wounds. Clockblocker, dressed in Aegis' outfit, had several rips on the costume. Kid Win was bereft of his hoverboard and his gauntlets were smashed and damaged in several places. Browbeat's hand twitched every so often and had a cauliflower nose. Gallant had dented armour. Vista was practically unharmed, barring scraped knees and the skirt of her costume being ripped and damaged.

"Well _that_ was a clusterfuck of epic proportions." Clockblocker said, ignoring the usual silent agreement to ignore the elephant in the room.

Aegis glared at him for a second before sighing. "Yeah, it was. Piggot tearing a strip off us wasn't exactly fun either."

Clockblocker removed his mask and headed for the wall, pulling out a whiteboard. "Mind if I take point, Carlos."

"Lay on, MacDuff." The boy waved, "I'm not gonna be getting up for at least a quarter of an hour. I gladly cede lead to you for a while, Dennis."

"OK, so, we know something about the so-called 'Masters of Escape' thanks to this encounter with the Undersiders." Dennis said, ignoring his friend's quip, "Let's start with Grue."

He wrote the names of all of the Undersiders on the board, with the last one reading 'Spider-Troll' in block caps.

"The darkness he generates isn't just darkness." Kid Win volunteered, "It messed with my links to the 'net and with my radio and I was disoriented in it."

That was greeted by a wave of agreement for everyone caught in Grue's power.

"Hellhound's dogs are trained; she controls them with whistles, hand gestures and orders." Browbeat volunteered, "They're tough too; I smacked on in the side and it shook it off pretty easily."

"Anyone get anything on Regent or Tattletale?" Dennis asked, looking around the room. Hearing negatives, he sighed before turning to the last column.

"OK then…I have no idea what her name was, but this spider-themed cape is verified troll." He said with a twitching eye. She had danced around him as he had tried to freeze her. To add insult to injury, she had done so while humming MC Hammer's _U Can't Touch This_.

"She used some sort of web-like substance to blind me for a while." Vista volunteered, "It dissolved in, like, five minutes though, so no sample."

"She was also a Brute." Gallant remarked, rubbing one dent in his armour, "One strike from her felt like Vicky had hit me, although I could tell she was pulling her punches."

"I think she has some sort of precognition, because when Glory Girl tried to cream her from behind, she leapt out of the way like an athlete." Kid Win put in. He deliberately neglected to mention that she had then thrown the strongest heroic Alexandria-type in the Bay into Clockblocker, who had frozen them both on instinct for ten minutes.

Needless to say, the blond bombshell of a girl had been less than pleased with Clockblocker.

"So a Mover power for her agility as well." Dennis was busy writing on the whiteboard, "A grab-bag I think. Mover, Brute, Thinker _and_ Blaster powers, all mixed into one package. She's also, as I said, a troll."

"She's a bit different to most grab-bags though; they usually have either a few moderately strong powers or lots of weak ones." Vista chimed in, "Dean's armour is pretty strong, and so I'd give her a Brute 4 rating at least, a 5 for her Mover rating and maybe a 2 for her Blaster. Dunno about her precognition though."

"I'd agree." Carlos said, "And as for the precog, I'd say at _least_ a Thinker 3 rating. I was watching her as Hellhound's dogs used me as a chew toy; she _knew_ Glory Girl was coming for her the instant she decided to attack. I think it was keyed to people attacking her, some kind of super-defence sense. If that's the case, I'd up the rating by another point."

Just then the visitor alarm went off, making the Wards scrabble to put their masks on. A minute or two later, Miss Militia walked through the door, leading Panacea and Glory Girl in.

"Ma'am." Aegis nodded formally at her.

"Aegis." The bandana-wearing heroine nodded back at the boy. He had a crush on her when he had first joined and a bit of that lingered still, although he never let it interfere in his duties. "Panacea here volunteered to patch up the Wards."

The healer, still dressed in her civilian clothes and wearing a visitors badge, nodded politely and started healing the Wards. Glory Girl on the other hand walked over to the whiteboard, looked at it and snickered a bit. "You really don't like that she outdid you at your own game, do you Clockblocker?"

Beneath his mask, Clockblocker's eyes twitched. "I joke. She's a troll."

"No, you _joke trollishly_." The blond Cape disagreed, "You just aren't used to the boot being on the other foot for a change."

She hummed a few bars of _U Can't Touch This_ and Clockblocker twitched. He could tell that he was going to have something of a dislike for that song from this point on.

Panacea glanced up at the board and said, "Arachne. That's what they called her."

Kid Win did a quick internet search. "Makes sense. Ancient Greek mortal, who supposedly invented linen cloth and nets, cursed for her hubris in boasting that she could beat anyone in a weaving competition, so Athena challenged her to a weaving competition. The story gets different endings depending on who tells it, but Arachne is always turned into a spider in all of them."

"The connotations of the name suggest more than just the attributes of a spider that are listed here." Miss Militia frowned, "Better put the Thinkers onto this. Excellent brainstorming session."

"We try." Vista said as she stretched, "Now, I'm gonna go get changed and then get a smoothie or something. I need to cheer up after getting my butt kicked by the weakest gang in Brockton Bay."

"Isn't that Über and L33t?" Panacea asked as she finished healing Aegis.

"They're a duo, not a gang." The Shaker shrugged, "They've only had minions a couple of times and never very successfully. The Undersiders have the numbers to be a gang, if not the unpowered lackeys. I guess we're lucky they seem to only have Capes; dealing with Capes and ordinary people at the same time is tough."

"Kid, when can you get the armour fixed up?" Gallant asked. The young Tinker looked at the dents in it dubiously.

"It'd be safer to replace the breastplate completely." He said bluntly, "There are several small fractures in the metal from Arachne's blows. She hit it at _just_ the right angle and with _just_ the right amount of strength to damage it badly enough to be scrapped. Thing is, that should have also hurt you somewhat. What was his damage, panacea?"

"Minor contusions on all three locations, perhaps a couple of bruised ribs." The healer answered automatically.

"See, that isn't right." Kid Win shook his head, "I'd be expecting fractured ribs at the _least_ from this kind of damage to your armour. I built it and it's good, solid armour, but nothing special to write home about by Tinker standards. If anything, I'd say that Arachne somehow altered her blows to do nothing but damage your armour in mid-punch. Does she have some kind of bullet time or something? Sheesh…"

"What does bullet time have to do with anything?" Clockblocker asked.

"If her bullet time slows down her mind's subjective perception of the passage of time enough, _and_ if she had a fast enough reaction time _and_ control over her strength, then she could, _theoretically_ , change the force of her blows on the fly to suit her opponent." The Tinker answered, "It's honestly a far-fetched theory, because _maybe_ Alexandria could do it, the muscle control part anyway, but without Eidolon to grant her a power that gives her bullet time _and_ enhanced reflexes at once, it's a pipe dream."

"There are Parahumans who can do that kinda thing though." Browbeat grunted as he stood up and stretched, "Hell, as far as powers go, it's a bit on the weak side."

"Arachne might seem like a jokester, but she saw through your plan at the bank today in less than ten seconds." Panacea warned them, "She's smart and I honestly wouldn't underestimate her."

"Any other comments, Panacea?" Aegis asked, "You saw them outside of fighting, so that might yield some useful intel."

The healer thought for a moment. "Grue's the leader, but he listens to Tattletale, who is almost certain to be a Thinker of some degree. Regent is like a more snarky version of Clockblocker, with less restraint, Hellhound is…feral…and Arachne…both Tattletale _and_ Grue listen to her. They might have only recently added her, but she has their respect."

"What the heck did a newbie Cape do to gain their respect?" Clockblocker wondered. Miss Militia grimaced.

"Apparently, Armsmaster discovered Lung unconscious and over twenty members of the ABB bound up in an, and I quote, 'unusually strong web-like substance' a few weeks ago." The heroine stated.

"Waitaminute!" Glory Girl said with wide-eyes, "Are you telling me that we just fought the girl who took down Lung and twenty-plus members of the ABB at once?!"

"Essentially, yes." Miss Militia confirmed, "Director Piggot kept it hushed up, because she didn't want word to get out that some newbie took out Lung solo."

"Did Armsmaster analyse the webbing?" Kid Win asked intently.

"No. He planned to do so the next day, but when he tried to get them out of the evidence locker they had been stored in, they had vanished." The female Cape answered him, "I suspect that, like the webbing that struck Vista, it biodegraded into nothing. This is going to make him unhappy. What little analysis he had done to the webbing showed it was essentially a scaled up spider's webbing, with the proportionate tensile strength."

"Do you think she generates it or that it's a biological function?" Clockblocker wondered.

"EWWW!" Vista and Glory Girl cringed at that last one, "Clockblocker, shut it!"

 _The Next Day_

It was chaos.

The ABB was going on a rampage, led by Bakuda, the new Tinker of the ABB. Oni Lee was aiding and abetting her.

The Wards were engaged in evacuation of civilians (despite the shrill demands and objections of the Youth Guard) and guarding the hospital that Panacea was working at. Somehow, even the insane lunatic knew not to try anything against the world's most powerful healer however, as nothing emerged all day.

"Well that was a waste of time." Kid Win sighed as he, Aegis and Vista headed back to the PRT building, "I mean, I'm glad that psycho bitch didn't try to attack Panacea, but Aegis at least could have been of more use elsewhere, right?"

"Orders are orders." The flying regenerator sighed. He thought much the same as Kid Win, but he was the leader of the Wards, so he couldn't be seen complaining, as much as he wanted to. He had to set an example, after all.

[Twip!]

Vista twitched as she heard that sound. It was the exact same sound that Arachne had made when shooting her webbing.

"Move it or lose it, slow-pokes!" aforementioned villain cat-called as she swung past them, "Last one to the PRT building's a loser!"

In the circumstances, the three Wards could be forgiven for gaping at the red and blue clad figure swinging from line to line towards the headquarters of the PRT. Aegis was the first to recover.

"After her!" he ordered and flew after her. Kid Win shook his head as if to clear it.

"Did Arachne have someone slung over her shoulders, or was that just me?"

Vista shrugged and warped herself to the end of the street. She had been practicing the technique a lot and it did speed things up, but the Manton Limitation on her powers really sucked. Fortunately, Bakuda's bombing had driven people indoors, so there wasn't anyone around to interfere with her powers. Kid Win sped up to keep up with his two teammates.

They caught up with Aegis in front of the PRT building, where they beheld a very strange sight. Bakuda, the insane Bomb Tinker, was tied up and hanging by her feet from a lamppost. She was totally naked except from a domino mask and an unflattering set of bra and panties and she had a ball gag shoved in her mouth. This was probably a good thing, as she looked furious.

Dangling to the side of her was a gas mask, as well as a small plastic bag that held…

"…toe rings?" Vista muttered in disbelief.

"They trigger the bombs." Arachne's voice said from above them. They turned to see her sticking to the side of the building by her feet. And nothing else.

"Wait, what?" Kid Win asked.

"The gas mask allows her to select the bomb she wants to detonate using eye movement, and then she sets them off by crossing the toe rings." The spider-themed Cape explained, "Impractical, but that says a lot about how she thinks."

"MMMMF!"

"Oh, shush it."

"Toe ring detonators…? Hoo-boy." Kid Win shook his head, "Armsmaster's gonna disapprove of that one. If she wanted to make a concealed detonator, why not rig it up in her clothes or something?"

"I don't try to understand the insane." Arachne shrugged, "I have a hard time understanding why anyone would join the Wards for a paycheck that makes minimum wage look wealthy, but I attribute that to lack of ambition on your parts."

"Oi!" Vista objected.

"Why'd you bring her here?" Aegis demanded, "Aren't you a criminal too?"

"I abide by the Unwritten Rules, Buckler." Arachne informed him, "She doesn't. Hell, she tried to kill me and the other Undersiders. I take poorly to people trying to kill me and my friends. So, she's all yours, courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood spider girl, Arachne. Keep frosty."

With that, she shot a webline at a building and swung away, just as PRT troopers stormed out of the building, Containment Foam launchers rising to try and target the swinging Cape. She moved too quickly and randomly for them to draw a bead on her though and quickly left the area.

"Well," Clockblocker, who had arrived in the confusion, drawled, "looks like we have a citizen's arrest here. Did she say 'welcome to my lair, said the spider to the fly' to you or did you fall into her spider web from the get-go?"

The look that Bakuda threw at the time-stopper, had it been a laser, would have killed him instantly.

 **So, next up, the second chapter of my first ficlet in this Asylum. I should expand the Tinker classification that I gave her to the subcategories that her specialty gives her, which is Blaster 3 (webbing), Brute 3 (Armoured Spider suits), and possibly Stranger 3 (stealth Spider suits). I might see about making the nano-spider suit from** _ **Spiderman Unlimited**_ **(if you haven't seen it, go and watch it. The show was good for its time). Any suggestions for tech that Spiderman made that Arachne could come up with, leave it in a review.**


	58. Prove Your Honour To Me!

Powers are weird.

Not an especially insightful or helpful remark, but it was a very true one.

I should know that most of all. My powers would technically be described as a 'grab-bag' set, powers that seemed to be dribs and drabs of stronger powersets grouped together. Grab-bags were generally speaking seen as bottom-tier Capes, power-wise.

I was not your typical grab-bag cape.

 _A Week After The Locker_

It all started when I was released from hospital after recovering from being locked in a locker full of the foulest and most disgusting toxic waste you could imagine.

For _twelve_ hours.

According to the doctors, it had been something of a small miracle that I hadn't contracted a serious infection from being exposed to the stuff for so long. I was just glad that, as a result of the biological waste that had traces of several strong contagions as a result of being left to rot and ferment over winter break, Winslow had been closed indefinitely until it could be completely decontaminated. There were also pointed questions being asked of the custodial staff and the regular staff for such a thing being allowed to happen.

Dad and I were rather pleased by that, and he took me for a meal out to celebrate the idiots who had enabled my year and a half of suffering getting it in the neck.

I should have known that whatever deity that hates me wouldn't let me have a break.

On the way home, we got caught in a four-way fight between the Empire 88, Merchant, ABB and the Protectorate. Our car was sucked into Mush's giant golem form, ripped apart by Hookwolf, smashed and burned by Lung and blown up by Bakuda.

It was then that I Triggered, seeing Dad's legs disintegrate in the Tinkertech explosion's wake.

Luckily or unluckily, I also blacked out when that happened. Waking up in the hospital again had been a bit of a shock. Apparently, when someone Triggers, it knocks out other Parahumans within a certain distance of them, so the PRT knew that _someone_ had Triggered there. Fortunately for me, there had been over two dozen people nearby, not including my Dad, who were just as likely to have Triggered.

As for my Dad…Panacea couldn't fix his legs. They were gone, destroyed by Bakuda's damn bomb. Dad didn't have enough body mass for the world's strongest healer to regenerate them, not without crippling him. I could tell that this really bothered her when she explained it to me, which had started gears whirling in my head.

"Does it _have_ to be biomass inside your patients that you use?" I had asked her, "Couldn't you use an external source?"

She had looked startled at that, then thoughtful. She promised to do some experimenting before getting back to me, which was nice.

 _A Week After Taylor Triggered_

Dad was…well, he'd _lost his legs_. No way was he OK, mentally at least. Fortunately, the Dockworker's Union owed him big time for all the work he'd done for them over the years and didn't try and give him the boot. Instead, they made his office and the way to it disabled friendly and told him to come back when he felt up to it.

"You're going to have to go back to work, Dad." I informed him as I wheeled him into the kitchen, "Watching TV all day is supposed to be _my_ job as a teenager."

That made him smile briefly. "Well, I'd _hate_ to usurp your duty as a teenager." He drawled.

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm before looking sadly at where he sat on the wheelchair, the space where his legs should be empty.

"None of that." Dad said sternly, "This _wasn't your fault_ , Taylor. It wasn't _anyone's_ fault except for Bakuda's for throwing that damn bomb."

"It's just…I'm free from Winslow…" I said with closed eyes, "And _you_ paid the price for it. Why did the price for my freedom come so steeply?"

"It wasn't to do with you, Kiddo." He said seriously, "It was shitty luck, nothing more. No one could have predicted a gang war starting just as we were heading home and it was bad luck that Bakuda chose that particular grenade to throw. Now she's on the edge of getting a kill order because she _did_ kill three people with another of a similar type. Once that happens, she'll be someone else's problem."

Regardless of what Dad said, I still felt guilty.

 _The Next Day_

Dad was finally heading into work today. Kurt, my godfather, was picking him up. It was no surprise really. Kurt and his wife Lacy had been Dad's oldest friends since they were teenagers, so they were very supportive of us both.

This also meant that I could practice my powers since I was going to be home alone. I was now registered as a home-schooled student, for multiple reasons. Not wanting to go back to the hellhole known as Winslow was one, having to look after my Dad was another.

After I helped Kurt load Dad's wheelchair into the trunk and saw them off with a wave, I re-entered the house and close the curtains in the living room. Standing in the centre of the room, I breathed out and whispered the words that triggered my powers.

"For dreams and honour."

In a flash of light, my clothes transformed. My jeans were replaced with blue combat trousers, while black boots appeared on my feet. My t-shirt was replaced with a blue polo neck vest and I gained a brown belt with an odd symbol on it. Metal pauldrons appeared on my shoulders, leather gloves on my hands, my eyes changed colour from brown to a luminous sky blue and my hair changed black. Finally, a blank-faced helmet appeared over my head and a thin sword in my hand.

 **[SOLDIER 3** **RD** **Class, ready for deployment]**

I had no idea who that synthesised female voice was or why she said that every time I transformed, but it got pretty annoying after a while. Holding up the sword in my hand, I focussed on it and information appeared in my mind.

 **[SOLDIER Sword]**

 **LV1**

 **A standard issue close combat weapon issued to all levels of SOLDIER, it is the first weapon you must master before moving on to others weapons.**

 **ATK +10**

 **1 Materia Slot**

That was more than I'd gotten all of the times before. Why was I a soldier? And why was it in caps like that? What did it mean by ATK+10? And what was Materia?

Shaking my helmeted head, I dismissed my transformation and reverted to my original appearance. Maybe by actually practicing using my sword, I would learn something new? It was worth a try at least.

It took me about half an hour to finish what little work I had left for my schoolwork. Freed from the idiocy of Winslow and the Bitch Trio sabotaging my work, I had redone a lot of the stuff I was supposed to do and found it a lot easier when not being beaten into submission by the entire student body every day. Then I went out.

Finding an abandoned house to transform in was easy thanks to the gang war. Each time I transformed, the process became quicker and easier, with the initial transformation taking two minutes and now taking less than ten seconds.

I finished transforming and had just sheathed my sword over my shoulder when a small window popped up in front of me.

 **Name: Taylor Hebert**

 **Rank: SOLDIER 3** **rd** **Class**

 **Level: 1**

 **To Next Level: 1000 EXP**

 **HP: 500/500**

 **MP: 500/500**

 **ATK: 50 (+10)**

 **DEF: 50 (+10)**

 **MAG ATK: 40**

 **MAG DEF: 40**

 **Feat Points: 0**

 **Weapon: SOLDIER Sword (LV1)**

 **Armour: 3** **rd** **Class Armour (LV1)**

 **Accessory: None**

 **Materia: None**

"Okaaaaayyy…." I whispered in confusion, "What the hell is all this?"

I already knew what the **[SOLDIER Sword]** did, so I tried pressing the **[3** **rd** **Class Armour]** and lo and behold, a screen popped up.

 **[3** **rd** **Class Armour]**

 **LV1**

 **The standard-issue armour issued to 3** **rd** **Class SOLDIER operatives. It is resilient, hardy and offers reasonable protection from bullets and blades.**

 **DEF +10**

 **1 Materia Slot**

 _Again_ with this Materia stuff! What the heck was it?!

Shaking my head, I close the second screen, only for another one to pop up.

 **Please select three feats to be integrated into your combat style.**

There was a long list of things I can choose from and I am taken aback at how many of them are to do will efficiently killing things. Steering clear of those, I choose three that are helpful and nonlethal.

 **[In a Single Bound LV1]**

 **Allows you to jump up to two stories in the air.**

 **[Back of the Blade]**

 **All strikes do not cause death.**

 **[Greenhorn Materia Hunter]**

 **Raises chances of acquiring Materia from defeated enemies by 20%. Does not stack with other Materia Hunter feats.**

The first gives me a way of getting around the city quickly, the second means I couldn't kill if I wanted to and the third will hopefully let me find some of this dratted Materia stuff so I can find out what it does!

 **Every instance of combat you take part in is assessed and a number of Feat Points (FP) is awarded to you based on that assessment. Once you have accumulated enough of them, you can purchase additional feats. As you level up, more feats become unlocked. It should be noted that there are a maximum amount of feats that you can have equipped at any one time and some feats are incompatible with one another and thus cannot be equipped at the same time.**

Useful to know.

Leaving the house, I leapt into the air and landed on top of the house across the road. It took me less effort that it did to get out of bed in the morning. With a grin beneath my metal helmet, I started jumping from roof to roof quite easily. Any distance between a meter or so and two stories was cake to jump and it amazed me that something so amazing was within my capabilities now.

Reaching taller buildings made me realise that my jumping limit was two stories point blank. Not that I was restricted to only jumping up two story buildings, but that if I stood atop a building and jumped two stories up to another one, it was perfectly allowed.

Looking around, I saw that my explorations had taken me to near Brockton Bay General Hospital. Why on earth would I _willingly_ come back here? I'd had more than enough of hospitals for the next years.

The loud BANG coming from the hospital had me moving in that direction before my mind caught up with what it was doing. Then I realised why. Panacea had a schedule for visiting the hospitals of Brockton Bay and today was the half-day at Arcadia, ostensibly for 'work experience' but in reality so that the Wards who went there, a totally open secret, could head for patrols. It also helped the New Wave healer and her sister to visit the hospital.

Thing is, no one attacked hospitals in Brockton Bay. Marquis, a villain from when I was a newborn, had laid down the law in that regard; no attacking hospitals or public transportation or you bring down both the heroes AND the villains on your head. Even although Marquis had long since been sent to the Birdcage, the new villains that had risen to replace him, minus Skidmark of the Merchants, all tacitly supported the 'Marquis Rules' and enforced them as well.

That begged the question of who would be stupid enough to attack a hospital in the Bay, coincidentally the exact same hospital that the world's most powerful healer was working in. It was either the Merchants or a new player and I don't know which option worried me more.

Landing in the hospital carpark, I looked around and scowled when I saw that the automatic doors of the hospital had been unnecessarily blown off their tracks. That just screamed either impatience, desperation or both.

A nurse, black, male and with a large bloody lump on his head, was slumped against the wall next to the entrance. I kneeled next to him and asked, "Are you OK? What happened here?"

"Th-the Travellers…wandering…villains…!" he gasped, "Panacea…going for…Panacea!"

A cold lump filled my stomach. Oh hell. They were breaking an unspoken part of the Endbringer Truce: Do Not Kidnap or Attack Panacea.

"Who the fuck are you!?" an angry voice yelled at me from behind. I stood up and turned to see Victoria Dallon, Glory Girl, glaring at me. She was the strongest Alexandria-type in the Bay and she was very protective of her sister. I had to step carefully here.

"I only just arrived here myself, Glory Girl." I said softly, raising my hands in a pacifying gesture, "The Travellers are responsible for all this. They're here for Panacea according to this gentleman here."

"Bloody fucking…!" Glory Girl snarled and she sped off into the hospital through the entrance. Not a bad idea, actually.

I picked up the man in my arms and carried him into the hospital, handing him over to another nurse that came forward at my request.

"The Travellers' target is Panacea. Where is she?" I asked.

The nurse looked at me suspiciously.

"Look, I'm a so-new-it-squeaks hero here, so I know you probably think I'm with the Travellers, but I really don't want Panacea to be taken by them." I said urgently, "Do you?"

One last moment of hesitation and the nurse nodded. "Chemo ward. That's where she's supposed to be right now. Three floors up."

"Thanks." I nodded and ran off to the elevators. Unfortunately, the Travellers had been here first and they were all melted wrecks. Grinding my teeth at the delay, I leapfrogged from wall to wall before drawing my sword and jamming it into the third floor doors, prying them apart in one smooth motion before landing.

Sheathing my sword again, I looked around and followed the signs to the actual chemo ward. Short of the brain itself, Panacea could heal almost any disease, so there was a massive waiting list for her time because, despite the fact she could heal most injuries and diseases in minutes, there literally wasn't enough time in the day for her to help everyone. The fact that she did so much at such a young age was something I found impressive and inspiring.

Point is, she's almost certainly still there…if the Travellers haven't gotten to her.

Bursting through the doors, I came face to face with the target of my search. Dressed in a white costume that was instantly recognisable the world over, Amy Dallon looked at me with wide eyes. "What on-?"

"Villains are here for you, Panacea." I said briskly, "Don't know if it's assassination or kidnapping, but either way, you need to get out of here, now."

"Sis!" Glory Girl rocketed through the doors, uncaring of the fact she smashed said doors into kindling. She looked at me suspiciously as I picked a splinter out of my hair. "How'd you get her before me?"

"I asked directions." I replied dryly, "Any sign of the Travellers?"

"They're wrecking the place floor by floor." Glory Girl answered with a scowl.

"Why are they breaking the Endbringer Truce and the Marquis rules?" I hissed with a shake of my head, "Get Panacea out of here, stat. I don't care what they want her for; we have to make sure they don't get her."

"Sorry, not in the cards." A male voice said. I spun around to see a group of people not much older than me wearing uniforms of red and black. The only nonhuman member of the group was a red and black gorilla thing with spider legs jutting out of its back.

"So you're the Travellers." I stated, "Yeah, I'm going to have to say that you're screwed here."

"Damn right!" Glory Girl growled, Panacea behind her.

"Sorry, the Healer's coming with us." The male in a top hat spoke up again and pulled a revolver from his pocket. Just as quickly, I drew my sword.

 **[Activating Combat Mode!]**

 **So this is in memory of my favourite FFVII character, Zack Fair. Some of the mechanics are from Dissidia: Final Fantasy (it's a crime he was never made a character in those games) and some are just standard game logic. A lot of people complain that I don't write these properly or that I could do better in some of them, but this Asylum of Plot Bunnies is to inspire other people to write fics, not for me to write a bunch of stories haphazardly for no reason.**

 **Taylor, who will go under the codename SOLDIER for the moment, will eventually gain access to the Digital Mind Wave (DMW) once she moves up a rank to SOLDIER 2** **nd** **Class, and then the Buster Sword just before become SODLIER 1** **st** **Class.**

 **Brute : 4 (Possesses superhuman strength and toughness)**

 **Mover: 5 (Able to leap up to two stories at a time. Possesses superhuman reflexes and reaction times.)**

 **Shaker/Trump: 12 (Is able to manifest combat gear that becomes stronger with experience and time. Can alter own power to become stronger. Sword surrounded by a field that prevents anyone cut by it from dying. When enters combat, locks down the area with a powerful forcefield that cannot be exited by those within and cannot be entered by those without combat abilities. Able to generate seemingly random boosts in combat ranging from invulnerability to special attacks.)**


	59. It's Time to Duel! Chapter 2

**It's Time to Duel! Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 51)**

So a month of practice has taught me a lot of things about my powers. [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] has been so helpful in that regard that I am honestly sceptical as to his name being correct. He's only obnoxious to his enemies, taunting them when they cannot destroy him, apparently.

I can switch my monsters out from my field to my hand and back in a matter of seconds, although I do have to deal with the seven card hand limit. If I have seven cards for, say, half an hour, I get a migraine like you wouldn't believe. To counter that, I would have to find a card I didn't have yet, the Continuous Magic Card [Infinite Cards].

When Duel Monsters was brought over from Earth Aleph, a lot of the cards were shuffled around rarity-wise. [Infinite Cards] was made a pretty rare one for reasons beyond my understanding.

Anyway, I also found out that certain rules that the cards ordinarily went by in a game of Duel Monsters were not applied when I used my power. I was still bound by the three copies per card limit, but most Forbidden cards were merely Limited or Semi-Limited. Just about the only cards that I couldn't put in my deck were the three Egyptian God Cards, the three Sacred Beasts and a handful of other monster, magic and trap cards, such as [Exchange of Spirit] and [Raigeki].

The rules were also a bit off in regards to my field. I could summon monsters, but I could use the magic and trap zone for them as well, as if I had the [Seal of Orichalcos] in my Field card zone. I could summon ten of them, but that many were something of a strain to maintain because I got a huge migraine from just ten minutes of trying.

Something that was rather useful was that all of my monsters seemed to be in their own little worlds created by what deck I had. So [Obnoxious Celtic Guardian] could tell the monsters in my warrior deck my rules for coming out, but not my spellcaster deck's monsters.

Currently, I was standing on top of a warehouse with [Lunar Envoy] and [Queen's Knight] flanking me on either side. I was wearing a uniform similar to [Kaibaman] as it was the last power I had discovered. By pressing a monster card, one that didn't have to be in my deck, to my chest, I absorbed it and became dressed in the clothes that the monster card was wearing, if any.

That made trying any monster that wasn't humanoid really awkward, as I ended up totally naked. Embarrassing doesn't even begin to cover it.

My monsters and I were looking down at a building that I had used [Swordsman of Landstar] to scout out. He was really small, a foot high, so made an excellent scout. The building was a drug lab for the Merchants, one that pumped out kilos of all sorts of drugs every year. Not anymore.

"Peddlers of alchemical misery…" [Queen's Knight] sneered in disgust, "It shall be an honour to put this demesne of despair to the sword."

She tended to speak as if she was the lead character in an epic. It was actually kind of fun to listen to.

"Indeed." [Lunar Envoy] nodded, his hand tightening on his crescent pike, "'Tis a shame that the laws of the land disallow us from dispensing summery justice on such scum."

"They're what we have to work with." I stated tartly, "I think that I'll summon another monster just to be safe. Lessee…ah. Come out, [Gearfried, the Iron Knight]!"

In a flash, the dark figure of the metal-clad knight appeared in front of me. Clad in all-encompassing back armour with silver trim, [Gearfried] had a large sword-like blade built into the right arm and a shield built into the other. He was also a trump card of mine if any of the Capes from the Merchants showed up, as I had [Release Restraint] in my hand.

"Mistress, I am at your command." He inclined his head at me respectfully.

"Thank you, Gearfried." I answered with a similar nod, "Now, here's the plan for assaulting this place. Gearfried, you have the toughest armour, so you'll be making the initial assault through the doors. [Queen's Knight], you'll slip in behind him to watch his back. [Lunar Envoy], you're going to start on their roof and head down, with me watching your back."

"Mistress, do you have a way of protecting yourself?" Gearfried asked. His face was a mask of metal aside from the mouth, but I could tell he was worried for me.

"I'll be fine." I informed him and equipped the [Legendary Sword] to myself. It appeared in a sheath over my back, which was a slight modification to how it first appeared. Just possessing it made me strong, so I usually didn't draw it unless things got seriously bad, as in Cape bad.

"Very well." [Lunar Envoy] said with a frown. I could tell he wasn't happy about me putting myself in harm's way, but he seemed willing to follow orders, "I shall ensure that no criminal or miscreant make it past my crescent pike to harm you, mistress."

Or he could be being melodramatic again. Sheesh, what was it with my monsters making declarations and sounding like they were from TV dramas? Meh.

"Let's get to it." I ordered and the three warriors nodded. [Lunar Envoy] wrapped one arm around my waist and leapt over to the roof of the warehouse being used as a drug lab. I covered my mouth with a bandana, because I didn't want to risk breathing in any drugs or their fumes.

 _The Merchants' POV_

The first sign of trouble was when something cut through the solid steel doors (OK, rusted like hell, but still reasonably sturdy) of the warehouse, then kick them down. Those members of the criminal gang that were alert (IE not drugged up with whatever infernal concoction they were taking that week) gaped as a six-feet tall man clad entirely in armour stepped into the building.

"Bull _shit_." One said as he recognised Gearfried from a card he owned, "Shoot the bastard!"

Uzis, pistols and machineguns barked and roared as they let loose on the intruder. They all pinged off his armour without so much as scuffing the paintwork.

"Humph. Not even a thousand attack points each, even with those puny weapons, and you think you can defeat me?" Gearfried scoffed, "My turn!"

Launching himself forward, he lashed out with his built-in sword, slicing guns in half with the edge and knocking Merchants unconscious with the flat of the blade. Behind him, [Queen's Knight] leapt to the attack also, bashing with her shield and blade.

"Get the boss!" one man shrieked as the two Duel Monsters methodically beat down the first thirty or so Merchants with a frightening ease.

The sound of smashing glass interrupted anything that any other Merchant would have said, as a warrior dressed in blue armour with golden trimming and wielding a pike with a crescent-shaped blade on one end and a figure dressed in a white trench coat and a dragon-shaped helmet dropped to the ground before laying into the rest of them.

Needless to say, no one got a call out.

 _With Taylor_

"That went perfectly." I smirked as [Queen's Knight] and [Lunar Envoy] finished tying up the Merchants under the watchful and steely eye of Gearfried, "Well done you three."

"It was nothing, mistress." Gearfried said dismissively, "None of them have more Attack Points than [Cyber Commander]. Most of them are so weak that a [Kuriboh] could defeat them. I certainly hope that our other opponents are not as weak as they are."

I thought of Kaiser, Lung, and the other Parahuman villains in the Bay. "I can safely say that these guys are the bottom rung even in the Merchants. I…wait, what's that noise?"

A loud rumbling sound was rapidly coming closer to the warehouse and I had a sinking feeling that I knew the answer to my own question.

"[Lunar Envoy], head up top and see what's coming!" I ordered.

Nodding, the monster leapt up and gracefully climbed to the roof. A bare minute later he was landing back on the ground next to me.

"A great vehicle approaches, mistress." He informed me.

"Great, Squealer's on her way here!" I groaned. The Vehicle Tinker was not someone I wanted to run into on my first night out as a Cape. According to PHO, she was almost always high on some sort of chemical cocktail and she was very fond of using sledgehammers to crack nuts when it came to her creations. APC's with tank cannons, tanks with enough rockets for a fireworks display and other, stranger creations. By the sounds of this one, it was a tank.

"How strong is it?" Gearfried asked.

"Wavered between 2200 and 2300." [Lunar Envoy] answered. How they could estimate people and weapons as monster cards and equip/trap cards is beyond me. I couldn't do that.

"Mistress, I think it is time the Merchants faced my true form." Gearfried stated.

I blinked. [Gearfried the Swordmaster] was a very powerful monster. Just attaching a basic Equip Magic Card to him allowed him to destroy any monster on my opponent's side of the field.

This was a good plan.

"Let's do it." I agreed.

 _With Squealer_

"Fucking bastardised son-of-a-bitch!" the Tinker swore as another pressure valve came close to bursting. She adjusted several dials and let out a relieved sigh as the pressure retreated to safe levels.

' _I_ told _Skids this thing wasn't ready!_ ' Squealer thought irritably. The tank, which she had dubbed the Shit-Kicker, was fuelled by an alchemical cocktail of drugs, petrol and cheap booze, all of which was extremely volatile. She had wanted to fine tune the 'boiler' that fed the mixture to the engine itself for another week, but her oh-so-smart leader had ordered her to get to a warehouse to pick up the latest shipment.

She loved the man (despite his lack of dental hygiene) but he could be fucking retarded when it came to her tech. Just because she let other people near it didn't mean that it was 100% ready! If this thing blew up on her, she was so gonna banish him to the fucking couch for a month.

Peering out of the telescopic viewing periscope she had installed, Squealer frowned as she saw that the warehouse had several smashed skylight windows where there should have been none. ' _Fuck, they got raided._ '

Absently, she flipped several switches to bring the weapons systems online. The hum of several power circuits coming to life made a smirk appear on her face. While the power for the engine of the tank was in need of adjustment, the power systems for the weapons were a different kettle of fish. She was looking forward to this.

As the Shit-Kicker trundled forward, Squealer frowned as a single armoured figure emerged from the warehouse. Power armour? It was almost seamless if it was powered armour.

Squealer flinched away when the armoured figure was engulfed in a pillar of light, the brightness making her eyes water. Removing her goggles, she wiped them dry before replacing them and making a mental note to add an auto-adjuster for brightness when she got a spare minute. When she looked again, her jaw dropped.

Where there had once been an armoured figure, there now stood one hell of a stunning beefcake of a man. A rippling muscular physique, clad only in a loincloth, with bandages wrapped tightly around his forearms, palms, calves and feet. A mane of black hair fell to his ankles and piercing black eyes stabbed right into her, even through the filter of the periscope.

Then a slighter figure dressed in white, black and silver strode out of the warehouse and tossed a sheathed sword to the man, who caught it without even looking. Squealer's danger senses started to scream at her that this man might be attractive, but he was also dangerous as hell and that she should _shoot_ the bastard ASAP.

So she did. The main gun was a coilgun that was a bit of an energy hog, so she used the smaller Gatling Guns mounted on either side of the main turret to open up on the almost naked bastard in front of her.

Then his arm, the one holding the sheathed sword, just _blurred_ and the ground around him was covered in pulverised bullets.

"No. Fuckin'. Way!" Squealer screamed and began to charge the main cannon. That was beyond anything she had ever seen a parahuman do. He had to be at least Mover 9 to pull that kind of speed off!

Then the man drew his sword and slashed it down in a single motion, releasing a white wave that engulfed her tank inn less time than it took to blink. The next thing Squealer knew she was sprawled on the ground, with the broken pieces of the Shit-Kicker scattered around her.

"What the fuck?" was all she had time to say before something hit her from behind, sending her into darkness.

 _With Taylor_

I shook my head as [Queen's Knight] took down one of the three Merchant Capes with an ease bordering on contemptuously so. _This_ was someone that had been plaguing my city for just under a decade? This was someone that the PRT had trouble keeping in lockup? I was speechless.

"Bind her and gag her." I said with a sigh, "Leave her goggles though. From what I've read, the Unwritten Rules really frown on unmasking Capes."

It made sense not to unmask capes (according to PHO) as the very tentative Endbringer Truce relied on the lack of escalation between heroes and villains. Only the S-Class villains, the likes of the Three Blasphemies of Europe that couldn't be killed or Nilbog the monster-making devourer of Ellisburg or the cult-like semi-immortal Slaughterhouse Nine disregarded the Unwritten Rules without caring. Everyone else did their best to follow them. Those that didn't follow them and didn't have the power to back up their actions were hunted down mercilessly and either Birdcaged or killed by both villains _and_ heroes.

Case in point, Kaiser. A Cape had tried to get into Kaiser's Empire 88 by killing a member of New Wave, Fleur, in her civilian identity, easily done as New Wave took off their masks when they changed from the Brockton Bay Brigade to try to spearhead the New Wave Movement.

Kaiser had promptly tortured and crucified the man responsible before dumping his barely living body in front of the PRT Building. He had known that to attempt to do otherwise would break the Endbringer Truce into pieces once word got around if he'd accepted the man. No compassion, just a good head for politics.

As [Lunar Envoy] dragged the comatose Tinker into the warehouse to tie her up with the other Merchants, I frowned. Now I had to call it in to the authorities and I had no Cape name. Fuck, I should have thought of this before now!

Shrugging, I pulled out the burner phone I had sneakily bought and tapped in the number for the PRT helpline.

" _PRT Helpline, what is your emergency?_ " a female voice said professionally after a couple of rings.

"This is Duellist, a new hero." I said with almost no waver in my voice. It would do as a temporary name for now, anyway. "I have Squealer and about forty or so Merchants incapacitated and ready for pickup, along with a drug lab."

I then rattled off the address of the lab.

" _Understood, Duellist._ " The woman said after a moment, " _Miss Militia and Velocity and on their way to meet with you, eta five minutes for Miss Militia and less than two for Velocity. Please stay in the area for on-site debriefing. I am legally required to inform you that if this is a prank call, you can and will be fined up to and including $1000._ "

"I hear you." I didn't like being threatened, even obliquely, but compared to the Bitch Trio, this was nothing.

Hanging up, I disassembled the burner phone and had [Queen's Knight] smash the pieces with her swords. Rumours on PHO (again) had conspiracy theories that the PRT had Tinkertech equipment that allowed them to trace any phone that called them even once. I wasn't willing to subscribe to the theory, but I was willing to allow for a bit of healthy paranoia.

(Was that a contradiction in terms or was I just imagining it?)

"Whoa…!" a male voice said. I turned to see a man wearing a red costume with a 'V' in black stripes on his front and racing stripes on the rest of him.

He looked at me and my merry monsters and asked, "Um…who's Duellist?"

"Me." I stepped forwards, Gearfried and [Queen's Knight] looming protectively over me.

"Okaaaayyy…." He said, taking a breath, "Why do I have the feeling this is going to be a long story?"

 **So here we are, a new chapter of It's Time to Duel! One thing I always wanted to ask Stewart92 to do is to please give Tartarus a costume in Screw the Rules, I have Escalation. His latest chapter that I have on my screen as I type this is hopefully going to do something about that, but I just thought of an application similar to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters Duel Armour, except without the assimilation of the monster's attack, defence and abilities. If I do give her that, it will be after a Second Trigger. A scary thought considering how powerful Duellist already is, eh? ^-^**


	60. Beware the Dungeon Master Chapter 2

**Beware the Dungeon Master Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 56)**

Titania clapped her hands happily. "Excellent! Now we had better get down to discussing your terms of employment and your pay."

I blinked. "You're actually going to pay me?"

"Of course. You are echo of the slayer of Zion." The Fairy Queen said matter-of-factly, "Even if it wasn't good business sense to treat our Dungeon Cores, the deeds that your original carried out would demand a lot of respect from us. Your original kept moving forward, never apologising for what she felt she had to do. Through pain and suffering, through hardship and sorrow, she kept moving forward and adapting to what life on your world threw at her. If there is one thing that is respected by all races on this world it is possessing determination and the will to follow through on it."

I was blushing at the praise that Titania was giving me. I mean, yeah, some of that was true, but…it wasn't as noble as she made it out to be. The original me adapted because there was no other choice but to adapt. She moved forwards because there was no other choice than to move forwards. It just…worked that way. Taylor Hebert wasn't weak of mind by any means.

"So then, to begin with…you will be in the personal employ of me, Titania the Fairy Queen of the Seelie Court, until Thomas Calvert is removed from his Dungeon and the being behind him is cast down. Also until the balance of Light and Darkness is more or less back to normal." The small woman started.

"That last one sounds a bit…vague." I noted.

"Can't be helped." Titania shrugged helplessly, "It depends on how long it takes to accomplish the first two and how much more damage is done in the meantime. That kind of throws any kind of set timetable out the window."

"Fair point." I conceded, "I agree to those terms. Next?"

"There isn't much point in paying you in gold." Titania informed me, "Although you will need some as reward money for your Dungeon, as well as some coppers and silvers. The majority of what I will pay you will be in weapons, armour and raw magic."

"Raw magic?" She was losing me again.

"I am not just a Queen, dear. I am a nigh-Goddess." Titania said with a soft smile, "I created the Seelie, just as Mab created the Unseelie and Oberon the forest people. Pure, unaligned magic is my might and right, although mine is slightly bent towards Light and Illusion, just as Mab's is bent towards Shadow and Air and Oberon's is directed towards Nature. You can generate magic in your Dungeon once you are set up, but you need some to start with to 'prime the pump' so to speak. Plus, having extra magic reserves can come in handy in a pinch and for experimentation."

I nodded uncertainly. "I still have no real idea what someone does as a Dungeon Core or why I'd need to experiment."

"Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, dear." The Fairy Queen informed me, "Even the insect monsters. Additionally, infusing a monster with magic allows you to alter their appearance, abilities and the like. What you get with the various combinations of magic can be rather diverse, so the best way to get what you want is to experiment with various monsters and magical combinations, which can be very taxing on your reserves."

"Animal experimentation?" I said uneasily, images of Nilbog's town of monstrosities flashing through my mind.

"Dear, while wild monsters can have varying levels of sapience and sentience, monsters created in a Dungeon have as much or as little of either as the creator wishes." Titania reassured me, "If all you want to create is a simple flesh puppet devoid of anything resembling the mind of a tick, you can do that. Then, once you have what you want, you can ramp up their intelligence and whatnot to whatever you want. Not that insect brains are exactly on the same level as Michelangelo to begin with, but…"

"I get it." I sighed, "OK, so I get the magic, but why the weapons and armour?"

"Loot." Titania explained, "We Fae, Elementals and Divine entities have a duty to maintain the balance of Light and Dark, and the best way to do that is via the Dungeons. The dungeons need the other races, humans, dwarves and the like to enter them in order for the system to work, so the best way to do that -to make them enter and risk their lives- is to lure them in with things we see as useless and they see as valuable; gold, silver, copper, enchanted items, weapons, armour, spell scrolls, that sort of thing. It's…ah, what's the phrase from your world? Quid Pro Quo? This for that? Something along those lines, anyway."

"Makes sense." I nodded. If anything, I knew how greedy my fellow humans could be for cash. Seriously, the slightest shine of gold or cash and the intelligence of most men and women went out the window.

With a wave of her hand, Titania summoned a long length of what she told me was vellum and every detail of the contract was written down in both English and an odd flowing script that Titania told me was the Fae language. She also made a quill appear from nowhere and signed it herself before handing me the quill. Honestly, I was reasonably certain she was on the level with me, but that didn't stop me for hesitating for a moment before signing my name.

"Welcome aboard." The Fairy Queen smiled, "Now, the process of crystallisation will take about five minutes and you have to be…well, 'unconscious' is the best descriptor for it. Or perhaps 'asleep' would work. The Fae, Divine and Elemental words for the state don't translate into English very well."

"Actually, that's something of a concern." I said with a frown, "I only speak English."

"As a Dungeon Core, you will be able to understand and speak any mortal language." Titania assured me, "And, with a bit of effort, you can learn Fae and Elemental as well. Divine is a bit beyond your ability to speak it, but you can learn to understand it."

"Oh. That's good." I remember being a bit envious of Alec being able to speak French, even if it was Quebecois French. From what I understood of it, it was very different to regular French.

"Good. Now, you'll sleep and then wake up in your new body. You won't be able to see or hear initially, but it shouldn't take me more than a couple of minutes to reach in and teach you how to use magic to see and hear." She informed me, "Nighty-night."

Everything went black.

When I came to, everything was black. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear…but I _could_ feel. Just as Titania said, I was now an orb about the size of a largish grapefruit. No idea what colour I was though. I was sitting on something soft…like a cushion, perhaps? And there were a pair of small hands resting on my surface. Titania?

{Can you hear me?} a 'voice' 'said' into my mind.

Titania?

{Ah, good. Your mind's got quite the flair for connecting to another's mind. Not a surprise given you used to be a part of the Queen Administrator.} Titania said, {I'm going to transfer some basic knowledge on how to use magic to see, hear and speak to you. It will hurt like an ice cream headache, just so you know.}

Never had one of those before.

{It will hurt. A lot.}

OK then.

A second later…

Ow! Owowowowowowowowowowow! Shit, this fucking _hurts_!

{Sorry.} Titania apologised, {Bear with it for a moment…done.}

The pain receded and I mentally blinked it away. {Huh…that wasn't as bad as losing my arm.}

I paused. Had I just…?

{Yes, you did. Now try and see and hear.}

Trawling through the info dump that Titania gave me, I quickly pieced together how to see. How to hear was a bit more complicated, given that I had to parse soundwaves hitting the surface of my new body, but I managed it quickly enough.

{I think I have it.} I said after a moment, {Try speaking aloud.}

"Taylor?"

{I can hear you!} I exclaimed gleefully, {Now for sight…whoa!}

A picture of where I was snapped into sight immediately. I was in a round room about twice the size of a walk-in pantry, resting on a fluffy red cushion atop a plinth, with Titania hovering next to me. I…I was a rainbow-coloured crystal the size of a large grapefruit. And I looked _gorgeous_.

{Is…is that really me?} I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Taylor. The colour of a jewel indicates the strength of your will in your previous incarnation." Titania said with a beatific smile, "Only a handful of Rainbow-coloured Dungeon crystals have ever existed, with none in the past two centuries. This is highly auspicious. Even Coil is only a light red according to the rumours."

Making a mental note to discover exactly what the colour of a crystal indicated, I moved on, "So…where are we?"

"You are in the topmost tower of my castle on the Isle of Avalon." Titania informed me, "I was speaking to you via astral projection before, but the contract was real enough. The Royal Scribe is finishing copying it out as we speak."

{Oh. Good. Just keep Puck away from me and I'll be fine.} I answered dryly. I didn't want that mischief-maker using my as a baseball or something. I didn't know a jot of magic to protect me, so I was all but helpless at the moment.

"I'll try, but he's rather like the Scarlet Pimpernel; 'They Seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him every-bloody-where.'" The Fairy queen sighed in irritation, "Were it not for the fact he knows not to permanently harm any of my subjects or employees, he would have permanent residence in the gaol. Such a troublesome person…anyway, let us get you moving."

With a gesture, she levitated me off my pedestal, making me yelp in surprise. She led me down a spiral staircase and into a series of corridors and rooms that were partly made from granite and partly from trees. No, not wood, actual _living trees_. They were growing all over the place.

The throne room, when we reached it, was cool and leafy, despite being bigger than my original's childhood home. The tiny throne with a plinth next to it was obviously hers, with a larger throne one step down on the dais that was obviously Oberon's.

Lining the walls were fairies decked out in armour and wielding swords, spears and bows. A few had staves in their hands instead. These last ones were, I presumed, magic users…or at least fairies that specialise in using magic offensively and defensively.

Setting me down gently, Titania then set herself down on her throne. After arranging her robe, she clapped her hands and a crystal ball appeared in front of her throne.

"Now then…where is it…" she muttered, "Aha!"

After waving her hands over it for a moment, the image of a ragged gap in a cliff appeared in the ball.

"This is the entrance to your dungeon." She informed me, "Well…once we clear it of the soldiers of the enemy."

{Exactly who is this enemy insane enough to want to destroy the world?} I asked.

"The king of one of the human nations." Titania answered with a scowl, "He became an immortal demi-god after drinking an elixir made from droplets of the blood of several gods he collected. Pathetic, stupid fool. He was driven mad from all the conflicting Divine Magic and Essence."

{I'm not following.}

"Divine Magic is far more volatile than almost any other magic known to us." The Fairy Queen explained, "Having more than one kind together that isn't compatible in one container is similar to filling a football with nitro-glycerine and kicking it like a linebacker. Divine Essence is what the gods are made up of, our…well, essence. That which makes us gods. That idiot king gathered blood, ichor, from gods of war, travel, fertility…a good dozen conflicting Essences within the blood, all told. This combination is like detonating the Fat Man and the Little Boy in the same location after being jacked up in power by Jennifer lee, whom you would know as Bakuda. Those two instances taken into consideration, it's a wonder he didn't blow up and level his entire kingdom. He got off lightly just being driven around the bend."

{Immortal? He can't die?}

"Well he can, you just have to kill him. He's just eternally young, eternally living and immune to most forms of magic." Titania pouted.

{And the old fashioned route of sticking a sword in him doesn't work?} I prodded.

"It would, but he's using some sort of bizarre mind control magic, a Slave Collar, to command his people now." The Fairy Queen explained, "Diehard fanatics they are with them on, the lot of them. The entire kingdom's become a fortress AND he somehow sneaks raiding parties out to carry out missions, such as destroying Dungeon Cores."

Yikes. Sounds like this guy made Jack Slash and Burnscar look shy and retiring by comparison.

{OK, so what kind of dungeon are you giving me?} I changed the subject.

"Not a great one, I am afraid." She said apologetically, "It has eight floors that are almost identical, no traps and all the monsters have been killed. The previous Dungeon Core…well, sometimes people volunteer to be one and the man who was the Dungeon Core there was a professor who was fascinated by the anatomy of insects. He was an obsessive recluse who spent all 500 years of his second life experimenting to create the perfect insect. He was close, I believe, to completing it when he was killed."

{…I am having a hard time believing that someone could be so lax to defend themselves.}

"He was over a hundred when he was converted and he was very absent minded." Titania shrugged, "Quite a lot of the time, he forgot to stock monsters with loot. You have quite an attention to detail, so I highly imagine that won't be a problem for you."

{Um…thanks?}

"No problem, dear. Unfortunately, the dungeon is still occupied by a squad of enemy troops to prevent us from doing exactly what we want to do." Titania waved her hands some more to reveal the inner passages, which had ten men in dull grey plate armour clanking around like clockwork soldiers. They were armed with both large two-handed swords and regular swords and shields.

{Ten men for eight floors?}

"It was not a productive dungeon, and only insects and constructs can be created here." Titania pointed out, "The Mad King doubtlessly didn't think it was worth stationing a large garrison here."

{I think I'm a bit insulted.} I said dryly, {So how am I going to take control of my Dungeon? I can't exactly do anything as a crystal. Even if I had my old body back, I doubt I could take care of them with no power.}

"So responsible. No, my dear. I am your sponsor and it is the duty of a sponsor to secure the dungeon before the Core can occupy it." The Fairy Queen tittered. She then beckoned forth one of her soldiers. "Captain, go to the Grim Cliff Dungeon with two squads. Kill the soldiers you find there with extreme prejudice, but leave the bodies where they fall."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the fairy saluted her smartly before speeding out on his wings.

{Very efficient.} I commented.

"My soldiers dislike those who try to destroy the world, so they are eager to get people in place to counter the Mad King and Coil." Titania shrugged.

A messenger sped into the room. "Majesty, Lord Oberon and Queen Mab are here!"

"Without as much as a by-your-leave? How typical of my consort and sister-queen." The Fairy Queen sighed irritably, "Escort them in."

"Yes, your Majesty!"

As the fairy sped off again, I asked, {Why would they be here?}

"To speak with you, dear." Titania stated with certainty, "It isn't often you speak to someone who has slain a god-like being, and Zion certainly counts. They also probably want to know about Coil."

That made sense, but there were only so many ways I could say 'evil manipulative bastard with no morals' without repeating myself.

That made Titania laugh.

"Announcing her Royal Majesty Mab, the Queen of Air and Shadows of the Unseelie Court and her Consort, Lord Oberon of the Wild!" a fairy herald announced.

Two beings entered the room then. One was a fairy the same as Titania, but markedly different. She had long black hair reaching down to her ankles; her robes seemed to be forged of woven shadows and a crown of air rested upon her head. She wore a smirk similar to Titania that was ever-so-slightly more evil that her Seelie counterpart and she had an air that was vaguely reminiscent of Jack Slash in that she was perfectly willing to hurt people to get what she wanted and feel absolutely no shame or sorrow about it. A fairy-sized dagger was thrust into her toga's belt.

The being that almost had to be Oberon was taller than Armsmaster by about two feet and his skin was a light shade of green. Dressed in clothes made of what looked like leaves, he was thin, but muscled and carried himself as if he knew his way around a fight. He had aquiline features and eyes that burned with green fire.

Hoo boy.

"Ah, Titania!" Mab said softly, her voice silken and deadly like a stiletto, "So this is the Slayer of the World Destroyer? A Rainbow Crystal…how utterly fascinating."

"Mab. I see that barging into someone else's castle still hasn't gotten boring for you, even after two millennia." Titania shot back waspishly, "And indeed, this is the one known as Taylor Hebert, Skitter the Warlord, Weaver of the Wards and Khepri the Mad Godslayer. She has agreed to aid us as we discussed. She rather dislikes Coil, you see."

{That's putting it mildly.} I snorted, {My original was almost killed by him and had she been any less paranoid and prepared, he would have succeeded. Greetings Queen Mab, Lord Oberon. As soon as the dungeon is clear for me to take over, I'll get to work.}

"An admirable sentiment." Oberon said. He voice was powerful and deep, bringing to mind unrestricted growth and savage strength "What can you tell us of this…Coil?"

{He is a megalomaniac who has no sense of morality.} I answered immediately, {He will honour no promises, he will keep no oaths, he will break any treaty or law to achieve his goal. No taboo will stop him, no depravity will hold him back and any chain he is bound with will only hold him as long as it takes for him to work his way around it. He was the worst of humanity in concentrated in one person and my original was glad to kill him. It looks as if I will have to aid in destroying this remaining fragment of him in my original's place.}

"Well, I believe that is as plain a description of Coil as has ever been made." Titania smirked, "I believe this partnership of ours will be most advantageous for us. Oh, look! My troops have arrived at the dungeon. Let us watch them conquer it."

 **So here's chapter two of this unusual ficlet of mine. Oddly enough, it's flowing fairly easily, so I might get a third chapter out at some point.**


	61. Sevens

"So how do these things work?" Brian LaBorne, otherwise known as Grue, asked as he picked up one stone from the pile in front of his newest teammate. They were sitting at the kitchenette's table and eating toast in between talking.

"Um, well…" Taylor said with a nervous worrying of her lip, "These won't work for you. I would have to make a new one for you specifically."

"Ok, so how do they work _in general_?" the leader of the Undersiders pressed slightly.

"You have to wear them, like a necklace, broach, pin or something." The brunette answered, "Once you do, you can tap into them in order to access the powers they grant."

"As simple as that?"

"Yup." Taylor nodded.

"Morning." Lisa, Tattletale, yawned as she entered the room. Taylor blushed due to the fact that the Thinker was only wearing a shirt and nothing else. Grue just looked resigned.

"Tats, but some damn pants on."

"Coffee…!" the blond whined.

Rolling his eyes, Brian got up and fixed her a cup of coffee to take back to her room and wake up properly.

"She gets like that after a near-death experience." He explained to Taylor, "Only happened once before, when a stray shot from a bodyguard almost clipped her head. Anyway, what do the colours mean?"

"Um…there are three kinds of gems." The new Cape said with a shrug, "Red gems grant Vanguard abilities, Blue carry Support abilities and Yellow Gems hold Rearguard abilities."

"Can you put that in a way I can understand it?" the boy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Basically, Vanguard abilities help in close in combat, like increased strength, speed or skin as hard as iron." Taylor explained, "Rearguard abilities are for those who stand off and attack from a distance, like always hitting your target, increased power to projectiles and the like. Support abilities are non-combat abilities, at least not abilities that fall into the other two categories anyway."

Lisa chose that moment to come back in, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and drinking deeply from the cup Brian had given her. She put it on the counter and smiled sheepishly at Taylor.

"Sorry about that." she apologised, "Mornings after I almost die are…well, you saw. So what're you two up to? Oh, these are…?"

"My gems." Taylor said, a little pride in her voice. There were about twenty gems on the kitchen worktop, ten blue and five each of red and yellow. They were about the size of an average walnut, but didn't look very valuable due to the large amount of impurities they held within them.

"How do you make them?" Lisa asked with a small frown.

"I use a stone as a base." Taylor answered with a shrug, "Any stone about this size or smaller seems to work, but they also have to be bigger than, say, the diamond studs you see on earrings. If they are small, my power makes them grow, although if they're too small, it just won't work."

"Does the type of stone matter?" Lisa frowned as she prodded one stone gingerly.

"I think so. Most of these-" Taylor gestured at the gems, "-are made of basic stones that you can pick up in a park or at the dockside. I have noticed that the skills they get are fairly weak, but the stronger ones are ones I picked up from rockeries and gravel paths. They have a bit of quartz in them."

Lisa tapped her chin with a finger. "So basically, you need materials to experiment with?"

"I would like to find out if the type of initial material can affect the type of powers that my gems can create." Taylor admitted, "But it isn't as if precious stones were just lying about. And the couple of times I bought some semiprecious stones, my power didn't work on them at all."

"Most of these stones had quartz in them." Lisa mused, "So it's likely that a reasonably pure quartz stone will work. Heh. I wonder what will happen if you use your power on a diamond, ruby, sapphire or agate?"

 _Later that Week…_

Taylor gaped at the five stones in front of her. All of them were the kind that she had wanted to experiment on, but had known that the chance was slim to none that she would ever get her hands on them. A diamond, a ruby, a sapphire, an agate and a quartz crystal, all about the size of a golf ball, gleamed in the light.

"The boss pulled some strings, but took the price of them from your pay." Lisa informed her smugly, "Let's see your power in action."

"O…OK!" the brunette squeaked. She hesitantly reached out and picked up the quartz crystal before looking at Lisa questioningly, "Do you want me to create a gem for my use or for one of you?"

Lisa looked at Alec, Brian and Rachel before shrugging. "Let's see how your first attempt with one goes before we try that, 'Kay?"

"Sure." Taylor shrugged back before focussing on the stone in her hand. She cupped it in both hands and bowed her head. Unbeknownst to her, she whispered a word just before a rainbow glow flashed in her hands

" _Sevens._ "

The light in her hands pulsated for a moment before being overcome by a red light that blazed for a moment before fading. When Taylor opened her hands, a gem the size of a golf ball rested there, sparkling red, the same colour as fresh blood.

"Whoa…" Taylor swayed for a moment before snapping back to attention, "Wow. That was a bit more draining that I expected. Lessee…"

As Taylor looked at the stone, something in her power told her what the skill within it was called and what it did.

"The ability this one grants is called [Shockwave Blow]. It allows you to send a shockwave at the enemy from a punch or from a close combat weapon of some sort."

"That's…a Blaster ability?" Brian asked with a raised eyebrow, "I thought long range attacks were a Rearguard ability, from your explanation a few days ago."

"The range is only a couple of metres." She shrugged, "And initially, the strength of the shockwave is only as strong as the medium used to transmit it."

"Meaning it's only as strong as your arm, perhaps with the strength of the weapon you use added onto it." Lisa extrapolated swiftly, "Wait, initially?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah. Just like our powers get stronger with use, the skills in the gems get stronger the more you use them. Up to a point, anyway. The three gems I've been using most often are a lot stronger than when I first started using them."

"Sounds interesting. Let's go for it." Alec smirked. He sauntered forward. "What should I do, dork?"

Taylor bristled slightly at the nickname before forcing it down. She grabbed the diamond and held in in one hand. "Put your hand over the jewel and my power will do the rest."

Raising an eyebrow, Alec did as he was told. Taylor closed her eyes and whispered, " _Sevens._ "

The rainbow glow of the activation of her power flashed and then turned red. When Alec removed his hand, a red Vanguard gem glittered in Taylor's hand and Taylor herself looked slightly drained.

"Yikes…" the bespectacled brunette panted, "That was even more draining than before. Let's see what we have here though…ah, this is a good one. The ability this one grants is called [Iron Fighter]."

"The fuck's with the lame name?"

"Hey, my power names them, not me." Taylor defended herself, "Anyway, do you wanna know what your new ability does or not?"

Taking Alec's silence as a confirmation, Taylor carried on, "[Iron Fighter] seems to be a composite skill. It hardens your skin to the same density as solid iron, as well as increasing your strength and speed slightly. Pretty damn good, I'd say."

"So I become a low-level Brute and Mover?" Alec cocked his head to one side with a smirk, "Oh, I like that."

"Brute 3 and Mover 1." Lisa said abruptly as she massaged her temples, "That's what I can tell it grants at the moment. I think it'll go up by maybe two points in the Brute section and one more point in the Mover section, but I can't be sure."

' _Bloody Thinkers._ ' Taylor thought.

"Pretty damn good." Alec grinned, "Thanks dork."

He picked up the gem and examined it before backing off. The next one to come forward was Lisa.

"From the looks of it, the clear jewels become whatever colour that the user is best suited to having." Taylor mused aloud, "A Thinker power is quite like a Support ability anyway, so…let's see if we can go three for three on the Vanguard."

Grabbing the ruby, Taylor held it out on her hand to Lisa, who placed her hand over it.

" _Sevens._ "

The red glow…didn't appear.

"Huh…looks like you're not suited for Vanguard abilities, Lisa." Taylor said with a frown.

"That's fine with me." The blond said with feeling, "How about you try me with the Rearguard skills?"

Shrugging, Taylor swapped out the ruby for the agate and they tried again.

" _Sevens._ "

The yellow glow blazed forth like the birth of a small sun, almost blinding everyone. When it faded, Lisa withdrew her hand and gazed in awe at the glimmer of the sunshine-yellow gem sitting in Taylor's hand.

"Th-this is…!" she whispered.

"Wow. That took a lot out of me." Taylor shook her head, "This must have been a high-purity agate. Lessee…huh. [Projectile Duplication] is what this guy does."

"Say what?" Lisa cocked an eyebrow.

"Throw a throwing knife and you can make ten more appear in flight. Shoot an arrow, the same." Taylor explained, "I guess the same would apply to bullets fired from a gun, or throwing stars or bolas or anything you could class as a projectile. Hell, even a thrown stone would count."

"That's a Shaker power. Shaker 1 or 2, I'd say." Brian said with a frown.

"I'd say Shaker 5, but that's just me." Lisa retorted as she carefully picked up her gem.

"The powers are what they are." The brunette shrugged, "I have no control over what powers are generated when it's just me, and I'd think that the personality and powers of the people I make gems for have something to do with the end product."

"Whaddya mean?" Alec asked.

"Take Lisa as an example." Taylor said as she pushed her glasses up her nose, "As I said before, I equate most Thinker powers with the Support category, so the likelihood of her generating another Support ability is low. Lisa herself isn't fond of getting up-close and personal with her enemies, so in hindsight the Vanguard skills were never going to be her forte. That just leaves Rearguard skills."

"You," aforementioned girl said with narrowed eyes, "are a smart girl."

"…thanks?"

The next to try the ruby was Brian, but again it didn't work. He ended up with a Support gem that gave him the ability Taylor called [Special Analysis]. It allowed him to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of his enemies, although there were restrictions on its use. The enemy had to be within ten metres of him and within line-of-sight as well. Still, it was very useful for a leader to possess. Lisa rated it as Thinker 3.

Rachel, when Lisa managed to persuade her to give it a try, got the Vanguard skill made from the ruby, which was very basic. It was called [Muscle Boost] and granted her increased physical strength and durability. Lisa rated it as Brute 2.

"So we're the only ones who can use these gems?" Brian asked as he held the blue gem up to the light.

"Well, yes." Taylor nodded, "And me. I can use all the gems I make, but if I make them especially for someone, they're the only person who can use them aside from me. Also, aside from me, people can only use one gem at a time. I can use one from each field. Shame most of mine are weak."

"Such as?" Brian asked.

Taylor pulled her stones out of her bag and spread them out over the table before picking one up, a blue Support gem. "This one has a skill called [Weight Down], which lowers the weight of my clothing and anything I carry via rucksack or in my arms by 20-30%. This one has an ability called [Sight] that sharpens my vision. This one is what I'll use to help you hide those gems better. It has a skill called [Shrink], which allows me to reduce the physical size of inanimate objects. This one has a skill called [Mind Guard]. It protects me from weak mental intrusion."

"Would that work against the Simurgh?" Lisa asked sharply.

"I have no desire to find out, but probably not." The brunette deadpanned, "The key word is _weak_ mental intrusion. Something like the Simurgh's scream would not be blocked, merely mitigated by a small amount. Anyway, most of the Support gems I made are like this; small, weak effects. That might change once the skills grow and evolve."

"Evolve?" Brian asked.

"Yeah. My power tells me they grow twice and then evolve." Taylor nodded with certainty, "When they evolve, they gain either additions to the basic skill or a skill along the same line as the first skill, but different. For example, Rachael's [Muscle Boost] could gain [Boost Strength], the ability to double her physical strength. Or it could be [Iron Body], the ability to harden your muscles into the strength of steel. It depends on how the skills are used and the emotions she feels."

"How many times can that happen?" Lisa asked.

"Twice." Taylor answered, "The final evolution takes a long time to happen though."

"Fair enough." Lisa nodded, "Now…what should your Cape name be? We still have to get you a costume too."

"How about…Prima Materia?" Taylor smirked.

 **Ok, so. As you might have guessed, this little idea came from a Light Novel called Sevens. In that world, everyone has an inborn ability, known as a [Skill]. Jewels are items capable of storing skills down bloodlines. OK, it did just happen across family lines, but it is possible that they can be inherited by others. Without any proof, I'll go with that. As for the PRT ratings…I use them as an indicator of the strength of the abilities, as opposed to the PRT, who use them as an overall threat assessment. Like it or lump it.**

 **Oh yeah. Please don't ask questions in Guest Reviews, because I have no way of answering them and have no intentions of answering them in another chapter.**

 **Striker/Trump: 8 (Able to convert stones of all kinds into gems which then have powers bestowed upon them. She can use any gem that she creates, but if she creates one with someone else touching the stone, that person can use it as well. The gems are divided into three categories: Red Vanguard gems, Yellow Rearguard gems and Blue Support gems. The powers and personality of the person touching the stone have an influence on what stone is created, as well as what stone is used as a base material for the gem. The more impurities the stones possess, the weaker the power of the resulting gem. Additionally, clear jewels such as diamonds and quartz, can be converted into any of the stones, but coloured gems, such as sapphires, rubies and agate, can only make gems of their respective colours. The skills grow more powerful with use and can evolve twice with skills either branching out from the original skill or a skill similar to but different than the original one being learned. She can use one gem from each of the three categories, while other people are stuck using one gem at a time.)**

 **Shaker: 1 (Can store the gems inside a hammerspace pocket)**

 **Breaker: 2 (Can absorb one of each type of gem into her body to allow her to keep them concealed.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Able to draw out and compile information about each and every** **skill she bestows upon a gem. Perfect recall regarding these skills.)**


	62. Chaotic Pack

**Chaotic Pack**

Taylor Hebert knelt atop a building in the Docks area of Brockton Bay and grimaced. Down on the street, two gangs were laying into one another with reckless abandon. On one side were the ABB, the pan-Asian gang run by Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu. On the other side were the members of the Empire 88, the Neo-Nazi gang that had infested the Bay for years.

Taylor hated them both. They, along with the Archer's Bridge Merchants, were slowly but surely killing the Bay with their drugs, their intimidation and their philosophies. The PRT, the Protectorate and the police…they had been all the use of a chocolate teapot. Sure, there were the occasional fights, but the PRT and the Protectorate may as well have installed revolving doors in their prisons for the effort it took the gangs to break imprisoned members out.

There was another reason, but it hurt too much to think about.

' _Well, now they have to deal with me…and my friends._ ' Taylor thought grimly. A purring growl came from next to her and she placed her hand on the metallic shell of the raptor-like robot she had built with her power.

"Sorry for getting grim, Zeke." She whispered, "Are the boys in position?"

The white raptor's head nodded and he rumbled a question at her. For whatever reason, Taylor had always been able to understand him, and he was asking something along the lines of 'Is it time to hunt?'

"Yeah. It's time." She answered, "Have the Pack hit them from both sides, with the Swarm harrying them from above. Keep the Flock in reserve. Got it?"

"Hrrrm." Zeke answered with another nod.

"OK then. In three…two…one…" Taylor breathed in, held it for a moment, and then let the breath out in a rush, "…now."

Zeke reared back and let loose a roar that resounded across the street, making the fighting gang members falter as they looked around to try and identify the source of the roar. Before they could react, the howls of the Pack resounded down the street as well before the bark of guns being fired overlapped them and gangbangers and skinheads started to fall. Then the ABB and Empire saw their enemies.

Wolves made of metal, twenty of them, bounded down the street towards them from both sides. Their orange main cameras blazed in the twilight, even as the double barrelled guns mounted on their backs barked again, each shot taking down gangsters and skinheads

Taylor smiled proudly as her Command Wolves loped into battle for the first time. Their pack nature made them the ideal force to use as hit-and-run troops, just like real wolves did.

"Shred these fucking machines!" one ABB officer screamed as he tried to charge on Command Wolf with a katana. It neatly dodged his strike and attacked back with a swipe of its glowing claws on the right foreleg. It cleaved through the steel blade like a hot knife through butter. The Command Wolf then lunged in and bit the man, sparks of electricity dancing over the man as he spasmed and collapsed limply as he was let go.

Unnoticed by most of the gang members below, a swarm of tiny robots descended on them. Taylor's first ever robots, her first 'Zoids', had been these, the Blitz Hornets. About the size of a playing card, they were really only meant as a proof-of-concept, but she had made _hundreds_ of them. Each was almost completely unarmoured and armed only with a miniaturised Taser mounted in the head, but they were speedy and highly agile. And, with no one thinking to look up with the Command Wolves stalking them, they were made for this kind of stealth ambush.

Sparks flew, men cried out in pain and bodies thumped to the ground as her tiny minions did their job with precision and efficiency. Barely five minutes had passed since the start of the ambush and every gangster and skinhead in the street had either fled (the lucky ones) or had been immobilised by her Zoids.

"Withdraw the Swarm. Send in the Flock, capture mode." Taylor ordered Zeke tersely. With a growl, Zeke issued her order for her. The Blitz Hornets rose up in a wave and started to head back to her base after dispersing. No one paid any attention to what went on above them, but Taylor wasn't one to be incautious. Paranoia was well trained in her.

Larger shapes swooped down towards the gangers. After the success of her insectoid Zoids, Taylor had tried her hand at avian-types next. After several false starts, she had successfully developed the Hurricane Hawk. It was primarily for missions like this: bombing runs. They were also equipped with complex infra-red sensor suites so they could function at night.

The bombs they were dropping on the gangers were very benign in nature; simply a form of capturing liquid that would restrain those caught in it. It wasn't knife- _proof_ , but it was knife- _resistant_ , so if any of the gangers' friends decided to come and rescue them, they would have a hard time of it. She'd tested it herself.

"Well, I'd call that a good first outing, wouldn't you, Zeke?" she asked her Organoid, who nodded.

Looking down, she saw the last of the gangers become bound by her containment liquid. The Hurricane Hawks smoothly swooped out of their bombing run and started to head back to base. Taylor decided it's what she should do as well.

"Send the Pack home. We'd best get going, Zeke." She said and stood up and turned to face away from her Organoid. The outfit she wore was a suit that had multiple round connection slots placed all over it for what was about to come.

Rearing back, Zeke's chest and abdomen opened up, disgorging a multitude of cables that reached out and mated with the openings on Taylor's suit before pulling her inside of him, the opening shutting behind her. Then, with another roar, Zeke pushed out two jets from his back and blasted off, flying through the air to Taylor's base, leaving behind over thirty semiconscious members of the ABB and Empire behind for the police to puzzle over for a couple of hours before the PRT took jurisdiction as a Parahuman had been involved.

 _Four Hours Later_

 _Director's Office, PRT Building_

"So what do we have?" Emily Piggot asked wearily. She had been supposed to be off duty an hour ago, but this new situation with the new Parahuman had caught her attention.

"Approximately four and a half hours ago, there was a street fight between thirty members of the ABB and Empire 88 respectively." Armsmaster said, his voice almost monotone in tone variation, "It had been ongoing for about five minutes when a loud roar echoed around the street. Scant moments later, both sides were caught in a pincer manoeuvre by what have been described as 'metal wolves' by almost every person interviewed regarding the incident. They were armed with a double-barrelled rifle on their backs for ranged attacks that fired stun gun bullets. For close range, one was observed to have claws that cut through a katana with ease, as well as a type of Taser linked to their teeth."

"My god." Piggot whispered.

"In addition, some have claimed that there were two other types of robots there." Miss Militia chimed in, "One that was insectoid in design and about the size of a playing card, while the other type was avian in design and size. The first type appears to be armed with Taser-style weaponry and helped to take down the gangers after the initial assault, while the second type dispersed the odd containment gel that restrained them until the police arrived."

"I…see." The Director tapped one finger on her desk, "This is almost certainly a Tinker or Shaker/Master that we are dealing with here. Armsmaster, has the gel we requisitioned vanished yet?"

"No, it is still there in my lab as we speak." The Tinker replied shortly.

"Very well. Assuming that this is a new Tinker, I want to know how our watchdogs at the city's junkyards didn't pick up someone grabbing enough metal to build robot wolves, insects and birds!" Piggot growled. The PRT and Protectorate watched the three large junkyards, and the four smaller ones, in The Bay just for this sort of reason. New Tinkers were terribly vulnerable to being attacked and coerced by the gangs until they got themselves fully set up with a workshop. The damage the Squealer alone did with her vehicles was justification enough.

She ignored the fact that the PRT wasn't much better when it came to the coercion front, using emotional blackmail on the parents to get them to sign their children into the Wards almost regardless of the will of the Tinkers in question.

"No teens or adults have been seen as buying anything highlighted as useful for creating the simplest of Tinker devices." Armsmaster replied slowly, as he read the reports via his visor's HUD, "This means that the Tinker in question has an alternate source. The Toybox, perhaps, or maybe they are using a legitimate front to purchase the materials legally. Whichever it is, the Tinker circumvented our system."

"What about the Boat Graveyard?" Miss Militia mused.

Both Piggot and Armsmaster shook their heads at this, but it was the Director who answered her, "The place is watched by the gangs and it is well known that if you have powers, you do not test them in the Graveyard if you don't want to be 'invited' into the Empire or the ABB or drugged and forced into the Merchants. I think Armsmaster has the right idea as to where our new Tinker got their hands on the materials to build these…robots."

She was silent for a moment before continuing, "Armsmaster, I want you to analyse the stun gun bullets recovered from the scene. Try to determine where the metal came from if you can, but otherwise find out if the bullets are any different from conventional stun guns. I also want you to analyse the gel that was used to capture the gangers. I want a counter-solution to dissolve it if this Tinker uses it against us, as well as a way to produce it if she turns villain."

The PRT and Protectorate could confiscate any Tinkertech from villains and use it pretty much as they pleased. When it came to Independent Heroes and Rogues, however, the lines were less well defined. They could confiscate the tech if the Capes in question left it at the scene, but they were only permitted to research ways to neutralise it, not fully reverse-engineer it until and unless the Cape either died or turned Villain.

"Understood." Armsmaster nodded, "Should I bring Kid Win in on this?"

"No, he's still struggling with discovering his Tinker specialty." Piggot answered, "Besides, none of his work has had anything remotely to do with chemicals, so I doubt he'd be able to do much with the gel. That one is the highest priority."

"Understood." The Leader of the ENE Protectorate repeated before turning around and leaving to follow his orders, ignorant that he was once again being rude.

Once the door closed behind him, Miss Militia spoke again. "What do you think?"

Piggot sighed tiredly. "I think that whoever this is, they have prepared to go it alone against the gangs. The machines, from what the report says, seem to be…intelligent. That suggests either multiple people controlling them at a distance or they have on-board AI."

Unsaid was that AI were highly regulated within the PRT and Protectorate, and Tinkers who joined the Protectorate and the Wards were subtly (or not so subtly in some cases) encouraged to not have anything to do with them. Those that did had to place hundreds of restrictions on them, shackling them and rendering them almost useless in combat.

The bandana-wearing heroine nodded slowly. "That would explain why the Tinker didn't try to join the Wards or the Protectorate. One look at the restrictions on AI on the PRT website would dissuade them."

"They may not have a choice." Piggot grimaced, "Chief Director Costa-Brown handed down an edict a month ago directing that any and all AI Tinkers were to be recruited 'for their own safety' and transferred to LA to be placed under Alexandria's supervision."

Miss Militia frowned. "That's an odd directive. The Chief Director hasn't concerned herself with AI Tinkers before now. Have the Precogs predicted something?"

"If they have, the Chief Director has placed it under a black-level seal that only she and the President can access." The ENE Director frowned as well, "At the moment, we have to find the Tinker regardless of directives. Finding out their motivations will help us develop a strategy to recruit them."

"And if the Tinker continues to refuse to be recruited?" Miss Militia asked softly.

Piggot met her eyes. "Then I am to inform the Chief Director, who will make a decision based on the information we gather about what to do regarding the Tinker. It will be out of my hands at that point."

Again, left unsaid was that Rebecca Costa-Brown took a dim view on any Cape going against her edicts, whether they worked for the Protectorate or not. She would come down on the Tinker like a ton of bricks.

"We had better hope that they are reasonable then." Miss Militia muttered as she turned to leave.

 _Later_

 _Taylor's Base_

Taylor finished screwing in the last bolt and stepped back to look at her latest creation. It was grey, dull metal at the moment, but she could see a bright sky blue on it in the future. Larger than the beast it was designed to impersonate, the Shield Liger was the same size as a carthorse, albeit far bulkier.

"Hrrm." Zeke rumbled.

"Yeah, give it a try." Taylor agreed.

The raptor-like Organoid glowed white before leaping into the air and speeding straight for the back of the Liger. The back opened up to reveal a space just large enough to accommodate the Organoid. Zeke sped into it and the plates clicked shut behind it. The Shield Liger glowed white for a moment before the tail thrashed and the sensor array where the eyes should be lit up. With a roar, it sprung to life.

"Happy birthday, Liger." Taylor smiled at her new Zoid, "Zeke, you in there? How's it look?"

"Hrrrm!"

"That's good to hear." The Tinker smiled. The Shield Liger was designed to be her mount, so she could get around the town quickly and support her Zoids in battle. She'd have to get a proper mask before that happened. Maybe one that looked like a raptor?

"Taylor, you still up?" a sleepy voice asked from the doorway to the sleeping quarters.

The brunette looked to the side and smiled at her friend. "Hey Ems."

 **Dun-dun-dun! Yeah, so that happened. Sorry for not updating, but I got sucked into Gundam Breaker 3: Full Burst. This idea got stuck in my head a while back, and I've finally put finger-to-keyboard about it. No clue what her Cape name should be. Iron Beast, perhaps?**

 **On to happy news. One of my ficlets, [Adapt, Survive, Win] has been adopted by Shadows of Vanity under the title [Because of the War]. I'm betaing for him, so please go and read it.**

 **Tinker: 7 (Specialty: Zoids and Organoids) (Has full knowledge on how to create Zoid Cores, Zoid Bodies and Zoid weaponry.)**

 **Thinker: 3 (Has the ability to communicate with her organoids and can eventually talk to her Zoids as well. Technical Technopath.)**


	63. A Storm of Blades

**A Storm of Blades**

Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, was used to fighting alone against what most would term insurmountable odds. He had stood his ground against Leviathan and walked away, he had stood against the ENE Protectorate when he arrived in Brockton Bay and emerged victorious, and in the years since he had arrived, he and Oni Lee had built the ABB into a force to be reckoned with, regardless of the numerous Capes of Kaiser's little Empire, the self-destructive big three of the Merchants and even the other little gangs and villains that floated around, like Coil, the Undersiders, Uber and L33t and Faultline. Not to mention the PRT and Protectorate again.

So when the Undersiders had had the temerity to rob the Ruby Dreams Casino, _his_ casino, he had set out to roast them alive.

Instead, he was in the Docks area facing someone who was wearing a black costume with what looked like blade patterns outlined on it in white and silver. Her mask was a silver full face affair and was also patterned with blades. Despite the flatness of the figure's chest, he could tell she was female. She had also beaten down the thirty ABB gangbangers he had had with him. Easily. He had to give her props for that.

"I am Lung." He said, the metallic dragon mask making his voice echo menacingly, "Stand aside now, or I will crush you."

Threats issued had to be blunt and to the point. No fancy language, no dramatic bullshit or rhetoric, like that idiot Kaiser was fond of putting into all of his speeches. If you had power, intimidation came from the knowledge of it rather than uselessly flexing your muscles and flapping your jaw. Not to mention the knowledge of what you had _done_ with said power.

He was Lung. Enough said.

"I am Carnwennan." The girl answered steadily. There was no tremble in her voice, no hesitation in her speech. She knew who he was, what he could do and what he had done, and stood against him regardless. Again, it was impressive. He estimated that she was no more than seventeen at the outside. The Undersiders wouldn't be able to maintain this sort of composure before him. Neither would the Wards. Hell, even the full members of the Protectorate spoke to him warily, as if he were a bomb ready to go off at a moment's notice.

At the same time, there was no disrespect in her words. She acknowledged what he had done and wasn't dismissing them or him. She was, if not wary, alert for signs of his tell-tale transformation. She knew what he could do and had some sort of plan to deal with him.

"I will not let you rampage in my city, Lung." Carnwennan said firmly.

He twitched. She wouldn't _let_ him? Who did she…?!

As a result of his anger, his powers activated, fire licking along his hands and he grew by about a foot, scale patterns growing over his skin.

"For that," he said calmly, "You will have to be punished."

In response, the girl raised her hand and pointed up. Unwittingly, his gaze followed her gesture and then his eyes widened at what he saw there. The sky was becoming dark as countless daggers appeared in explosions of shadow. He absently noted that they all had pure white hilts.

With a simple pushing gesture of one hand, Carnwennan fired all of the daggers at him in an unending rain of blades. Lung barely had the time to bring up his arms to protect his head and his heart, the two locations that were most vulnerable until he got ramped up fully, before the blades were upon him.

The feel of the blades piercing his flesh was pure agony. They hurt more than when Leviathan had _ripped off_ his arm. They hurt more than when Armsmaster tried to _cut his spine out_ with his halberd. They all eclipsed all of those instances of pain without even trying.

And still the blades fell. He was ramping up, becoming a massive dragon that towered over the girl like a building, but that just gave her more room to lodge in those accursed daggers. His scales became thicker to try and stop the blades from piercing him, but then he realised that some of the old blades had vanished from his flesh and the daggers were attacking the still-healing wounds!

The girl was still just standing there, now her arms were refolded across her chest as she stared flatly at Lung with single-minded determination. His blood boiled at this. She thought that she could take him down _alone_?! She thought that she could beat _him_?! He! Was! **LUNG**!

Fire blazed along his arms before the Rage Dragon launched it in a massive fireball at the incoming array of daggers, trying to burn them to a crisp. In a flash of shadows, they vanished, only to reappear right in front of him, moving at the exact same velocity.

' _She can change the point of origin of these accursed daggers without hesitation?!_ ' he thought in shock as more daggers slammed into his chest, the force and number of them actually making him step back once and then twice.

Most powers that created weapons, such as Miss Militia's, were usually fairly flexible, but usually required the origin point to be the same one, such as Miss Militia's hands. The fact that she seemed to be able to outright teleport both the daggers already in motion _and_ the point of origin of the creation of her weapons gave her a level of utility and an array of options that the Protectorate heroine didn't have, despite the greater destructive force of the modern projectile weaponry that she had access to.

Lung realised he was in a bad position, so tried to retreat, but then he was attacks from every side at once, forward, back, left, right, above, below and from every direction in between. Each blade that bit through his flesh caused him pain such as he had never felt before this day and now the wounds were not regenerating!

Held in place by a constant barrage of daggers from all sides, bleeding, regeneration seemingly defunct, in pain enough to kill a handful of elephants, Lung was still full on enough rage to push past the pain and try to break out and get at his tormentor. He almost made it.

Then two daggers flew into his eyes and blinded him. The pain spiked and Lung fell into blessed unconsciousness.

Carnwennan, otherwise known as Taylor Hebert, breathed a sigh of relief as Lung finally collapsed. She willed away the anti-regeneration daggers and the pain daggers to allow the man to heal. That had been a lot harder than she had anticipated. She could materialise up to three-thousand daggers with dual effects at once now, but that had proved to be insufficient.

Dematerialising the daggers already in his body and ramming new ones home instead had been the way to go once his scales had proven to be resistant to her daggers, and once he was large enough, shifting the daggers in mid-flight so that they struck him between the scales had worked splendidly.

Still, villain or not, she didn't like causing someone so much harm. It wasn't the way she wanted to be known. Anyone who hadn't been Lung, except maybe Crawler of the Slaughterhouse Nine, would have died in that barrage of hers.

Turning around, she left the scene quickly. She had only come across Lung by happenstance and luck and had no desire to still be here when the police or the Protectorate arrived.

 _With the Undersiders_

"Holy shit!" Regent whispered, "She took down _Lung_!"

"We saw, Regent." Grue said in a subdued manner.

"I know, I just have to say it aloud to make sure my eyes and my mouth are in the same reality." The Master Cape shook his head, "I say it again: she took down fucking _Lung_ and made it look easy!"

"It wasn't." Tattletale answered with a frown, "She was pushed to her limits in order to hold him in place. Had she been unable to create as many daggers as she had or she wasn't able to Trump them with regenerator inhibitor powers, she would have been burned to death. As it was, the strain of creating, maintaining and dismissing so many daggers in such a short timeframe was going to overwhelm her. I'd have given her five more minutes before she started bleeding from her nose."

"Shit, hear that?" Grue cocked his masked helmeted head, "Halbeard's motorbike. We need to be gone. Now!"

Bitch, who had been silent until then, whistled her dogs over and the team of teen villain galloped off, safe from Lung's wrath, at least for now. As they rode, Tattletale, Lisa Wilbourn as she called herself now, found her thoughts returning to the hero that had taken down Lung, Carnwennan.

' _She was nervous as hell but wanted to stop Lung._ ' The Thinker thought, her power working overtime, ' _She was born and raised in Brockton and hates the big three gangs with a passion because of the way they have been destroying it. Knows about how the gangs take advantage of those without work. Has utter confidence in her power, has almost none in herself. Triggered as a result of potentially life-threatening incident. Triggered as a result of extended stressful situation lasting at least a year. Almost no qualms about dying in the line of duty. Sees own life as expendable, doesn't value it other than how her actions will be beneficial to Brockton Bay._ '

The throb of a Thinker Headache stopped her. Lips thinning, Tattletale frowned and sighed. She had been unable to stop her brother committing suicide, resulting in her Trigger. She was now in the possession of information that told her that this Carnwennan person was a martyr in the making. She also knew that, cents to dollars, Coil, the backer of the Undersiders and the one who held the metaphorical Sword of Damocles over her head, would want her to recruit the new Cape by hook or crook.

There was no way she could prevent Coil from trying to recruit Carnwennan. What Tattletale didn't know was whether or not he (or rather, the Undersiders) would be successful. Every time she had tried to flee, he had caught her, claiming that his power was the ability to make what he wanted to happen, happen, but he knew next to nothing about Carnwennan. If he was unsuccessful, then that would be a chink in his armour that she might be able to exploit.

If he was successful, then at least she'd be able to try and mitigate whatever the hell had happened to Carnwennan. Trigger events were always traumatic for First Generation Capes, and by the looks of the girl, her Trigger had been worse than most. Resolving it would likely be impossible, but mitigation was possible, most of the time.

She'd just have to see how things turned out.

 **OK, so. Carnwennan, for those of us who are not folklore and mythology buffs, is the dagger given to Arthur in the Welsh Arthurian Legends. Carnwennan, meaning Little White Hilt (not to be mixed up with Dyrnwyn [White Hilt]), is a dagger that has been attributed with the ability to make its wielder become shrouded in shadow, and was used to somehow cut a Black Witch in half. You can probably guess why I chose this name for her.**

 **Brute: 4 (Is at peak human fitness and possesses superhuman flexibility, durability and strength, with a small healing factor thrown in.)**

 **Shaker/Trump: 8 (Is able to create any kind of dagger, knife, bayonet or short blade. Can create a maximum of 3000 daggers after three months of intense training. Is able to grant powers to the daggers within limits. Can grant Brute, Stranger, Breaker, Striker, Blaster, Mover, Changer and Shaker powers to the daggers, but only up to three at once. The more powers that the daggers have, the weaker the powers become. Can telekinetically control the daggers and accelerate them to high speeds given enough of a run-up. Can have the daggers created anywhere within 100 meters of her and can control them to strike within a few millimetres of their intended target. Can teleport the daggers and origin point of dagger creation whilst maintaining inertia and speed. Can create multiple creation locations, but the mental strain is quite taxing without suitable training. Can vanish any number of daggers at will.)**

 **Thinker: 2 (Is aware of her daggers on an instinctive level. Knows the location of each without conscious thought and is somewhat aware of their surroundings.)**


	64. Drawn to Win

**Drawn to Win**

Tattletale choked as Lung lifted her up, scaly hand around her neck. She scrabbled at it, trying futilely to loosen his grip on her. It was hopeless though.

' _Fucking Coil!_ ' she shrieked in her head, 'He's not helping! Whatever the fuck his power is, he's not using it to help us!'

The Thinker knew that the snake-themed villain only cared about himself and his goals, but when she had spoken to him just a few hours ago, she had gotten the impression that she and the Undersiders were a necessary cog in order to bring those plans to fruition. What had changed?

"Tats!" Grue shouted in alarm. He and the others were barely able to stand thanks to Lung's single-minded pursuit of them across most of the Docks area, burning and clawing at them all the while.

"You robbed my casino." Lung growled, still human enough not to have his words distorted by his transformation, "For that, your lives are forfeit."

Before he could make good on his threat, in Tattletale's case at least, a voice shouted from the side.

" _ **Inscribed in the Book of Thoth, I call out your name and summon you to the world to do my bidding!**_ " the voice ( _female, teenager, desperate,_ Tattletale's power chimed in helpfully) shouted, " _ **Come forth, Guardian of the Gates of Hades, Cerberus!**_ "

In a flash, a three-headed dog the size of the trailer of an eighteen wheeler appeared from nowhere. The three heads locked onto Lung and it roared a challenge at the Dragon of Kyushu.

"What. The. Fuck?" Regent gasped.

Lung dropped Tattletale and turned to face the new foe. He roared a challenge back at the Gate Guardian of the Underworld and charged at it. The three-headed dog roared and counter-charged the Dragon and bit into his scaly hide with two heads, while the third bit deep into his left arm.

"Get over here!" the voice that summoned Cerberus hissed at a dazed tattletale, "I can only maintain him for five minutes! Come with me if you want to live!"

Put like that, the Thinker supposed, she had no choice.

She crawled over to the location that the voice had come from and was pulled up. She looked up into a pair of worried green eyes that looked out at her from a mask made to resemble a bird with a long, thin beak...an ibis.

' _Ibis…sacred animal associated with the Egyptian god Thoth._ ' Her power chimed in helpfully, ' _Thoth, or Jehuty, was credited with the creation of every branch of knowledge by the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks. Created writing, the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Parahuman possesses the ability to manifest and animate anything she draws._ '

Her rescuer wore, aside from the black and green ibis mask, a leopard-patterned costume with moon disks and ankhs decorating it. Around her waist, she had a heavily modified workman's tool belt that had several pockets with drawing pads, pens and pencils, erasers and, oddly enough, a spray can in them. Clutched in one hand was a drawing pad with an empty page…that was slowly turning black.

' _Beasts can only be manifested for a certain period of time._ ' Her power deduced, ' _Once manifested, they exist until the page turns black. Time determined by skill of artist, quality of paper and tools used to draw and detail of drawing._ '

"Hey! You OK?" Tattletale was snapped out of it by her rescuer lightly slapping her cheek.

"I-" she started before coughing, her abused throat objecting to being used, "I'm…well, not alright, but I'm getting there."

"Good. Can you and your friends get away from here while Cerberus hold off Lung?" the bird-masked girl asked.

Hit by sudden inspiration, Tattletale asked, "I don't want to be a villain anymore. Can you take me to your base? Please!"

Blinking, the girl nodded.

The sound of Lung and the Cerberus drawing fighting became louder, as Lung forced Cerberus back. Decision made, the girl grabbed a smaller drawing pad from her belt.

" _ **Inscribed in the Book of Thoth, I call out your name and summon you to the world to do my bidding.**_ " The girl chanted as she opened the pad to a page depicting a superbly detailed black horse, " _ **Come forth, Steed of the Night, Hrímfaxi!**_ "

In a flash, the horse leapt off of the page and then grew to full size, rearing back and neighing before settling down. The girl leapt up on top of the horse…Hrímfaxi…before reaching down to give Tattletale a hand up.

"My name's Tattletale!" the Thinker said as she wrapped her arms around her rescuer's waist, "Who're you?"

"Call me Seshat." The girl replied, "Now hold on tight!"

' _Seshat. Egyptian Goddess of Writing, Knowledge and Wisdom. Associated with Thoth alternatively as his consort, his female counterpart and as his daughter. Name chosen to emphasise that she is female._ ' Tattletale's knowledge and power informed her.

With a kick, Hrímfaxi reared up again and leapt into the sky, hooves seeming to gain traction on the air as if it were the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Tattletale noted that her erstwhile teammates were retreating on Bitch's dogs. She withdrew an arm and rifled through her pockets until she found the phone that connected her to Coil. With a laugh, she threw it into the fight between Lung and Cerberus, which was back at a draw.

Free. She was _free_ of Coil. Now all she had to do was keep it that way.

 _Later_

 _Coil's Office, Coil's Secret Base_

Thomas Calvert was not a happy man. Rather, his supervillain true-self Coil was not a happy man. He considered Coil to be who he truly was, rather than boring-old Thomas Calvert.

The reason why he was unhappy was that, once again, his pet Thinker, Tattletale, had attempted to slip her leash. This wasn't unusual, as she had done so at least twice before. What made this attempt more than noteworthy was that she had _succeeded_ , in no small part due to the intervention of a Parahuman who he apparently couldn't account for using his Parachronal Cognition power.

He could split the timeline and in one, send the Undersiders to rob a casino, while in the other; he had them sit at their home base doing nothing. It was, in fact, what he had done earlier that day. The robbery had succeeded, so he had dropped the 'safety-net' timeline. He had then used his power in order to play the stock markets for a while. Even a massive company like Fortress Construction didn't have limitless funds, so he did this every so often.

When, in both timelines, he received a distress call from tattletale, he had dropped the least profitable one and immediately split the timeline once again. In one, he had simply hung up, while he had ordered them to retreat in the other.

According to what the timelines showed, in both cases the Undersiders were either slaughtered or crippled beyond further use, so he had simply dropped the retreat timeline.

What had _actually_ happened was that a Parahuman had swept in, summoned some sort of _giant three-headed dog_ projection to fight Lung, swept Tattletale into his arms and then summoned a _flying wingless horse_ projection before cantering into the night, Thinker in hand, while the rest of the Undersiders had retreated on Rachel Lindt's monstrous dogs.

It was, he was forced to admit, a better end than either of his timelines had anticipated. The Undersiders were not dead or crippled and could still be of use further down the line. What it actually was, though, was something of a disaster for his plans. Some Thinker powers synergised very well with his Parachronal Cognition, with Tattletale's being one of them. He had made plans to 'acquire' a precog that had Triggered a short time ago as well.

With is ability to split timelines backed up by a powerful precog and Tattletale's Photographic Deduction power, he would have had a far easier time of taking over Brockton Bay that he would have with just his own power. Now he had a Thinker on the loose who, while not fully in the know about his plans, still knew enough to be dangerous. Plus, she was in the company of someone whose actions could not be seen by his power.

A deadly combination.

' _I had always felt superior to Contessa._ ' He thought glumly, ' _Even although her thrice-accursed Path to Victory is far more powerful than my own power, she still has blind spots; Scion, Eidolon and the Endbringers. I didn't have any…not until now, anyway._ '

Coil steepled his fingers as he thought. He had the Undersiders, the Travellers and over fifty mercenaries armed with Tinkertech lasers in his direct employ, not to mention the resources of the PRT in his unmasked persona. With all of that, it should be relatively easy to have whoever it was that threw a wrench in his plans labelled as a villain or at least an extreme vigilante.

That was for later, though. For now, he had to contact Cauldron and secure a vial of a Thinker power for someone. He had no doubt that they would charge him an arm and a leg for it, but he _had_ to replace Tattletale, at least in the short term. In the long term, having three other Thinkers to synergise with would be beneficial in the extreme.

' _Whoever you are, you will pay for getting in my way!_ ' he vowed as he reached for his phone.

 _The Next Day_

 _Seshat's Base_

Lisa Wilbourn looked around the room she was in. It had been a kitchen in one life, and still was. It was, however, now full of old-fashioned kitchen items that she vaguely recognised from the Victorian or Edwardian periods!

"How, the hell, can you summon flying horsed and hellhounds and not modern stoves?" she demanded of her host, who manged to look sheepish while dressed up in a bird's mask.

"I can't summon anything from a drawing that is in mass production." Seshat admitted, "I also can't draw someone who is currently alive, so no summoning Alexandria to fight for me. I've experimented and the limitation for people is that they had to have been dead before I was born. With inanimate objects, the limit seems to be that how many are being made in the world right now and how many already exist in the world right now limits me. Apparently, there's also enough left of cooking appliances from the last hundred years or so that summoning them is impossible."

"Huh. Guess that means no tanks too." Lisa mused. Shame. She would have loved to have broken into Coils base in one. Blowing him up with a cannon or running him over with one sounded like fun.

"Depends." Seshat shrugged, "I could summon a Mark 1 British Tank fairly easily, as most of them have been destroyed, aside from some museum pieces."

"Isn't that the very first kind of tank to have ever existed?" the former Undersider raised an eyebrow, "You know, the ones that required a crew of _half-a-dozen or so_ in order to work?"

"I said I _could_ summon it, not that we could _do_ much with it." The bird-masked Cape retorted, "Now, I think you said something about being a villain last night?"

"I was forced to become a villain at gunpoint by another villain, Coil." Lisa informed her, "I tried to run several times, but he always caught me and…punished me. This is the first time I've gotten away from him since I came to the Bay."

Even although Seshat wore a mask, Lisa, who had revealed her identity to her last night, could tell she was frowning. "You couldn't get away? With your power, I'd have figured you would've been able to break free rather quickly."

"Coil claims that his power is to make everything turn out as he wanted. I watched him flip a coin and call heads every time. Ten heads in a row." Lisa answered.

"Probability manipulation of some sort?" Seshat mused, "Reality warping? Figuring Thinker powers out is a tremendous pain. So how did I manage to rescue you then?"

"I have no idea." Lisa admitted ruefully. She _hated_ not knowing things. "At a guess, you interfere somehow with whatever power he possesses, making him unable to use it or blank him to seeing what's going on. That means that I'd like to stick near you as much as possible, at least until Coil is neutralised. As long as he's around, I'm not safe on my own."

"…he really scares you, doesn't he?" Seshat said softly.

"He scares the living crap out of me." The blond girl confirmed, "He's also a threat to the city. He has my former gang, the Undersiders, in his payroll, along with the Travellers, a nomadic band of villains, and fifty or so mercs with Tinkertech laser rifles at his command. He also has contacts and moles in the PRT and the police. The instant I go to them, I'm as good as dead, as I'll be back in Coil's hands before you can say 'knife' and be punished again. He has threatened in the past to get me addicted to drugs in order to keep me docile and obedient."

Her ability to read Seshat was pretty good, even without her power. Seshat, or rather the person beneath the mask actually _liked_ Brockton Bay for whatever reason. By telling Seshat about Coil and his ambitions, Lisa was setting them on a headlong confrontation with one another. Nothing she was saying was a lie, nor was it exaggerated. It was the deadliest weapon for a Thinker: the unadulterated truth.

Did this make her feel guilty? Yes, but she _also_ didn't want to become a drug-addled pet on a leash for Coil. Lisa would apologise to the girl after Coil was six feet under.

"So he's a danger to Brockton bay?" Seshat asked sharply, "OK, start talking. I want to know everything you know about this character."

With a nod, Lisa started to lay down everything she knew about Coil and his operation, starting from his goals.

 **OK, so this is a little something I had cooking in the back of my mind for a while. Care to guess where it came from?**

 **I will take this chance to answer a question that someone pointed out for the first chapter of [Time and Time Again], whereby someone wondered how Paradox/Taylor could feel Coil using his power. The simple answer is that Parachronal Cognition is still a temporal power; therefore Paradox/Taylor was able to sense it being used. My guess about Coil is that he split the timeline just before the Undersiders arrived at the bank and ordered them to abort the operation in one timeline whilst keeping the one where they carried out the bank robbery in the other.**

 **The reason why Coil's power doesn't work on Seshat/Taylor is because of the influence Thoth has on her powerset. Thoth wasn't a god of good or evil. He was seen as a god of mediation. This translates into Parahuman Thinkers who are decidedly good or evil (by Seshat/Taylor's definition) being unable to see her or affect her using their powers. Lisa isn't good or evil; she simply is trying to survive, which is why her power still works on Seshat/Taylor.**

 **Master: 8 (Is able to summon forth creatures, objects and people that she has drawn. Cannot summon anyone still alive or was alive when she was born. Cannot summon objects currently in mass production or that exist in great numbers. Requires a chant in order to summon anything. The summoned creatures' strength and length of time that they can be summoned for is determined by Taylor's skill at drawing, the quality of the paper used, the quality of the materials she uses to draw and the amount of detail in the drawing itself. Once summoned, the page that the drawing was on will be consumed by darkness, with the drawing returning to the page once darkness fully eclipses the page or at the order of Seshat/Taylor. Is able to summon up to three creatures at once. No limit on objects. One person at a time.)**

 **Thinker: 6 (Has the ability to be unable to be seen or affected by Thinker powers coming from people she would consider either 'good' or 'evil' in moral alignment. Is unaware of this aspect of her powers, but that has no effect on its effectiveness. Those Thinkers who are neither good nor evil can affect and see Seshat/Taylor with their powers. Has the ability to learn how to draw very quickly, with current skill worthy of a professional artist. Can reach the realms of Michelangelo and da Vinci with enough time and effort.)**


	65. Prove Your Honour To Me! Chapter 2

**Prove Your Honour To Me! Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 58)**

 **[Activating Combat Mode!]**

Glory Girl, Panacea and the Travellers looked around in confusion as the synthesised female voice spoke.

"What the…whoa!" Glory Girl spoke up and then yelped as a dome of almost transparent energy erupted around the unknown Parahuman and then expanded, enveloping the Travellers before they could react. The Dallon Sisters, no the other hand, were pushed back gently but firmly by the dome.

"Huh? What the hell?!" Glory Girl exclaimed.

"I _told_ you that your job is to get Panacea out of here." The blue-dressed Parahuman barked as she brought her sword around to point at the group of villains, "I'll buy you as much time as I can! Bring reinforcements, because this is my first outing as a hero."

' _A rookie? Aw hell!_ ' Victoria whined. She didn't want to leave a greenhorn hero against a group of experienced villains like the Travellers, but she had to admit that the…girl? Yes, she was a girl…that the girl was right. Getting her sister away from the hospital and to the rest of New Wave was the top priority here.

"Don't be reckless!" she warned the girl, which made Amy look at her in slight disbelief, a 'you have no right to say that to other people' expression in her eyes.

"Shush." The blond Alexandria-type muttered embarrassedly as she scooped her sister up and flew towards the nearest window.

 _With Taylor_

"What the fuck is this?!" Top Hat snarled, "Why can't I switch with you?! Or anything outside the freaky dome you made?!"

"Once the barrier goes up, everything inside it stays in here." I answered with a lazy shrug, "As for me…well, I have no idea, Top Hat."

"The name's Trickster!" he snarled, "Genesis, beat down this bitch!"

The spider-gorilla nodded and started forwards. I could tell, somehow, that it was a projection of some kind rather than a human who had transformed. This meant…

"Disable Feat **[Back of the Blade]**." I muttered.

 **[Feat Disabled]**

…that I could go all out on it.

Before the monster could react, I grasped my [SOLDIER Sword] in both hands and charged in, striking a massive diagonal cut down its chest, making it roar with pain. I cut and cut, dodging attacks from its gorilla limbs and spider legs as I did. I made sure to keep close to the monster trickster referred to as 'Genesis' just in case he thought to take a potshot with his revolver. Projection or no, there was no way that a teammate would forgive him for hitting his/her projection as if the person piloting it didn't matter.

Sadly, there was only so much that untrained instincts and reflexed could do for me and I soon saw a giant gorilla fist heading straight for my solar plexus. I barely managed to block it with my sword, but the sheer strength behind the blow sent me flying. I somehow flipped in mid-air and landed on the balls of my feet. Before I could launch myself at Genesis again, the world seemed to turn grey and the Travellers all froze, a blue window opened up before me.

 **[Limit Break]**

 **When you have been driven into a corner, when your anger and other emotions reach a peak, you are able to use a Limit Break technique. As you level up, grow stronger and advance to the next class of SOLDIER, you will unlock more Limit Breaks. At the moment however, you only have one; [Chain Slash], an attack that allows you to attack multiple times with your sword inside of a single instant, with your opponents unable to stop or interfere with you.**

 **In order to activate it, simply choose your opponent and speak the name of the Limit Break.**

 **HUD (Heads Up Display) added to vision.**

 **[Limit Break Gauge] added to HUD.**

If I wasn't in a combat situation, I'd have several questions to ask. But, as the grey faded from the world and time seemed to start moving forwards again, I decided to leave the questions for later and just roll with it.

" **[Chain Slash]!** " I snarled and, much to my surprise, and orange series of waves emanated in a circle around where I stood before settling down. Then I found myself almost teleporting forwards, slashing my [SOLDIER Sword] down several times, with the last cut decapitating the monster projection of Genesis.

 **Villain Cape Projection 'Genesis: Spider-Monkey' defeated! You earn 2500 EXP!**

 **You have levelled up! LV1-LV2!**

 **You have Levelled up! LV2-LV3!**

 **You have gained [Enemy Skill] Materia!**

 **You have gained $60.00!**

 **You have been awarded 3 Feat Points!**

"Genesis!" the girl to Trickster's left cried in horror. She wore a black and red uniform decorated with suns.

"Sundancer, get her!" Trickster shouted.

"I can't without killing her!" Sundancer retorted, "No way am I doing that! And _especially_ not indoors and in a god-damned hospital!"

That reminded me…

"Reactivate Feat **[Back of the Blade]**." I muttered.

 **[Feat reactivated]**

"Ballistic?" Trickster turned to the guy wearing black, angular armour covered with protective pads and he had pockets all over them.

"This ain't cool, Trick." Ballistic said doubtfully.

"Can we _please_ leave the arguing until _after_ we deal with the damn hero?" the top hat-wearing villain ground out.

Well, as they were standing around talking and ignoring me, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I sheathed my sword and the bubble dome around us popped, at which point I turned and ran, leaping through the window that Glory Girl and Panacea had used to leave the building, ignoring the shouts from within the ward as the Travellers realised I had done a bunk.

 **[Conflict Resolved!]**

Landing atop a smaller building offshoot of the hospital, I leapt again, taking me down to street level, at which point I beat feet out of there. I could fight these people, but I honestly didn't like fighting villains with three-to-one odds against me, especially since that Sundancer girl seemed convinced that her power was too dangerous to use indoors and against a person.

Fortunately, I was quite quick on my feet and got a couple of blocks away in next to no time. I ducked into an alley and reverted to my civilian persona, walking out another way that I knew most people didn't know was connected to the two regular entrances.

' _Ok, so that was a bit terrifying._ ' I mused, slightly surprised by how sanguine I was with facing down a group of powerful villains who seemed to not give a hoot about the Unwritten Rules, the Endbringer Truce or the Marquis Rules.

What I now needed to do was to learn more about my very quirky powers, because today had been full of luck, in that I apparently had a tutorial built into my powers, informing me of things, either consciously or subconsciously. Like how I have known, somehow, that certain Feats could be activated or deactivated at will. And that little time-stop regarding Limit breaks and how to use them.

Once I got a better hand on my powers, I'd go on patrol again. Knowledge of my own powers was vital, and you couldn't have dreams and honour without being alive, right?

 _Later_

 _Travellers' Temporary Hideout_

"What the fuck happened today?" Francis Krouse demanded bluntly.

He was sat on a couch and nursing a beer as his mood plummeted. The rest of the Travellers

"I ain't got no fuckin' clue." Jess, AKA Genesis, admitted. The wheelchair-bound girl wasn't happy. "All I know is that that girl with the sword cut my projection into shreds while you lot stood around like a buncha nitwits."

"Wait, wait. Didn't she teleport?" Luke Britto, Ballistic, asked in confusion, "Because that's what it was like for us. One minute you sent her flying and she landed on her feet like a cat, the next minute she's standing over the headless corpse of your projection. Next to no time in between the two."

"Bullshit." Jess snorted, "She shouted something and then charged at me and cut me five times inside of ten seconds. Then I'm waking up here."

"Could it be some sort of Shaker field?" Marissa, Sundancer, mused.

"One that freezes every target _except_ the one that she's going for?" Krouse scoffed.

"It wasn't freezing, I think." Luke mused, "What she did was something like suspend our subjective experience of the passage of time for the duration of that attack."

"Say wha?" Marissa hitched an eyebrow.

"She froze your ability to register the passing of time." Jess simplified it for her teammate, "From all of your perspectives, time didn't pass while she made her attack run on me. I think it was to prevent you all from getting in her way while she took me out. She took down a field over her sword before she charged me, I think."

"How good were the eyes on that spider monkey thing?" Krouse asked.

"Better than yours." Jess shot back, "Anyway, what the fuck do we do now? Panacea is going to be guarded even more by New Wave from here on out, and there's no telling what the backlash of us breaking the Endbringer Truce and Marquis Rules is gonna be."

"Fuck the stupid rules!" the leader of the Aleph-born group hissed, "We need to get Noelle fixed soon, or there's gonna be nothing left of her mind! Especially after that fuckwit Perdition made her go half mad in Boston!"

His refusal to say their former teammate's real name was ignored by the rest; Cody had earned his punishment by his own stupid actions.

"I'll check in with Cody and see how Noelle's doing." Luke sighed, "We'll sleep on the matter and make a fresh try later, after more planning than 'She's there at x-day. Let's go get her!' this time."

Krouse glared at him, but then took another swig of his beer and ignored him.

 _The Next Day_

 _Taylor Hebert's House/Abandoned Warehouse_

So, after the hubbub yesterday, it was of no surprise that it was mentioned on the news, with fuzzy security imaging of the Travellers and of me being shown. I was mentioned as a ' _brand new Independent Parahuman Heroine intervening and saving the World's Greatest Healer from possible kidnap_ ' which was nice.

What was less nice was Armsmaster stating that ' _although this new Parahuman seemed to be a hero, she was officially being classed as a Rogue until further evidence could be turned up._ '

In a completely unrelated series of events, all of my Armsmaster panties got thrown in the bin. How odd.

Anyway, I was relatively free, as Winslow was still closed. Plus, Dad had put his time off to good use, unbeknownst to me until this morning, as he had filled out all of the paperwork to withdraw me from Winslow and start being home schooled.

Needless to say, I was a very happy camper. He had, rather generously, told me that I didn't have to start studying or whatever until Winslow officially reopened, which was nice. I'd still do some revision though.

Most of my time would be spent on housework and training my powers, though.

I was pretty much the only one who had done housework anyway after Mom died, because Dad…well, he hadn't been _clumsy_ , exactly, but he did have a bad habit of using the wrong cleaner for different things, even before she died. He once gone out and bought some cheap so-called 'environmentally friendly' cleaning agent and used it to clean the kitchen table…which had then become as sticky as if someone has slathered honey over it.

Mom hadn't been amused. Neither had I, for that matter.

I was walking down the street, subtly keeping an eye out for anyone trying to follow me, just in case. I was reasonably certain that no one had spotted me transforming back yesterday, but I was a bit paranoid after the last year and a half. Sue me.

No one was, though.

Making my way to the warehouse from yesterday, I transformed (that so made me sound like one of those god-awful Power Rangers) and inspected the status page that popped up when I did.

 **Name: Taylor Hebert**

 **Rank: SOLDIER 3** **rd** **Class**

 **Level: 3**

 **To Next Level: 2000 EXP**

 **HP: 500/500**

 **MP: 500/500**

 **ATK: 60 (+10)**

 **DEF: 60 (+10)**

 **MAG ATK: 50**

 **MAG DEF: 50**

 **Feat Points: 3**

 **Weapon: SOLDIER Sword (LV1)**

 **Armour: 3** **rd** **Class Armour (LV1)**

 **Accessory: None**

 **Materia: None Equipped.**

Hmm. So the amount of EXP I needed for each level was raised by 500 every time I levelled up? And my stats were raised by five each time I levelled up too? Interesting…

 **[Materia]**

 **You received Materia as a spoil of battle yesterday. Would you like to run through the Materia tutorial?**

 **Y|N**

Hitting, 'Y', I was a bit relived that I would finally find out what this Materia stuff was.

 **Materia is the condensed and crystallised energy of Mako, which in turn is the distilled essence of the Lifestream of the Planet. Materia appears as spheres approximately the same size as a golf ball and by inserting them into special slots in your weapons, armour and accessories, you can achieve various effects.**

 **The colour of the Materia is indicative of what effects it possesses.**

 **\- Green Materia allows the most basic off effects, which some refer to as 'magic' which is patently ridiculous, as it is actually simply twisting nature to induce violations of the natural order of things. Examples include fireballs, bolts of lightning, healing energy and clouds of darkness.**

 **\- Yellow Materia is known as Command Materia and grants those who equip it knowledge of various actions in combat. Examples include [Slash-All], [Double-Slash] and [Enemy Skill].**

 **\- Blue Materia is known as Support Materia. These Materia, as the name suggests, enhance the effects of other Materia that it is equipped in conjunction with. Examples include [Counter], [Added Effect] and [MP Absorb]**

 **\- Purple Materia is known as Independent Materia. This type is rarer than the previously mentioned types and has highly useful, if not overtly obvious, applications. Independent Materia grants the user abilities and raise stats without being placed into conjunction as with Support Materia. Examples include [Speed Plus], [HP Plus] and [Enemy Lure].**

 **\- Crimson Materia is the rarest and most powerful of all Materia and is known as Summon Materia. It allows the power of evocation, spirit summoning in other words. Various elemental forces make up this world, and various Materia linked to these beings exists. Usually, in order to obtain a Summon Materia, you must do battle with an Avatar of the Summon itself. Examples include [Fenrir], [Shiva], [Leviathan] and [Bahamut].**

My mind spun at the last one. Leviathan?! I could summon _him_?! I forced my rising panic down. No, I couldn't. Leviathan was an Endbringer and definitely not a spirit or anything.

The window closed and another one opened, showing the image of a yellow orb the size of a golf ball and a description of it.

 **[Enemy Skill]**

 **A Command Materia that is both use** _ **less**_ **and use** _ **ful**_ **at once. It is useless in that it has no intrinsic abilities on its own, and useful because it allows you to use the abilities of certain enemies that target and strike you. As most people don't like being targeted by their enemies, this is not a popular Materia initially, but the sheer variety of attack options that it grants you once you have enough of them can be highly useful.**

I wasn't in any great hurry to be attacked either, but I could see the potential in the [Enemy Skill] Materia. With the number of Parahumans in the Bay, I knew that I would be hit by their powers at least some of the time and the chance to have a more varied powerset than I had now was an opportunity I couldn't afford to miss.

Browsing through the screens until I found the Materia Equip Screen. It turns out that each weapon and armour I had could only have a certain amount of Materia equipped at once. In the case of my current loadout, I only had two slots, one from my sword and one from my armour. I chose to slot [Enemy Skill] into my armour slot, as I didn't know if it was possible for me to be disarmed or not, considering my sword was a part of my power. Still, I wasn't above being cautious on the off chance I could be disarmed.

[KABOOM!]

Oh, what the hell now?!

 **You wanted Materia? Here's some Materia.**


	66. Beware the Dungeon Master Chapter 3

**Beware the Dungeon Master Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 56)**

I peered into the globe along with Mab and Oberon as twelve fairies armed and armoured similar to the ones in Titania's court flew towards the entrance of what would be my dungeon. It would be interesting to see exactly how they fought against the Mad King's soldiers.

"As you might imagine, we fairies are not strong of arm like large humanoids are." Titania informed me, "In combat, this is reflected by us using ranged weapons such as bows to offset that, as we can enchant arrows easily. We also use magic to distract and confuse our enemies."

" _My_ soldiers also use it offensively." Mab drawled with a slightly crueller smirk, "The only ones who don't use it offensively are dear Titania's soldiers."

"Why you-!"

I ignored the squabbling Fairy Queens and focussed on the globe. There were three soldiers on the first floor, all armed to the teeth. The Captain Titania had ordered to lead the fairies made a series of hand gestures to his subordinates (a sign language?) and three of them muttered something for a moment before vanishing.

{Invisibility? No…they bent light around themselves.} I said, rather impressed.

"Correct!" Titania smiled at me and patted my new body with one hand. It felt…rather pleasant.

The first Knight had no warning; three small arrows sailed at him out of nowhere and shot through the slits in his visor, killing him instantly. His body crashing to the ground alerted the other two that something was up.

The other fairies had flown in and set up while the first Knight had been busy dying and had set up a few traps using magic and illusions. The second Knight charged right into them, solid light piercing through his armour as if it was paper.

"My, my, my." Mab smiled as the Knight fell to the ground, "Here I thought you disapproved of using magic in direct combat, Titania?"

"I do, but I have been forced to compromise my ideal when confronted with these…Slave Knights of the Mad King." Titania answered tightly, "I still do not permit my soldiers to use magic offensively, but they can use it for defences and traps."

Surprisingly, Mab put a comforting hand on her sister-Queen's shoulder. "Don't worry, sister. The Mad King _will_ fall."

Titania smiled back and then turned to watch as the last Knight of the first floor fell, peppered by arrows that also pierced his armour easily. After that, the other seven Knights were similarly slain in rather short order.

"So what do you think of my warriors, Taylor?" the Queen of the Seelie Court asked.

{They work well together and seem to know their limits.} I answered, {I'd honestly say that I'm impressed by their skill."

This earned me another pat.

"Thank you, dear." Titania smiled, "Now then, I think it's time we headed out to claim your dungeon."

In a very short period of time, Titania, Mab and Oberon were ready to head out, with a handful of retainers carrying sacks and chests full of what I guessed were my initial starting loot, so to speak. Titania, once again, levitated me along beside her.

"Really. Floating her around like that." Mab snickered, "You're subtle teasing is just as entertaining as always, sister dear."

"Her emotional reaction is rather amusing, yes." Titania smiled apologetically at me, "Sorry, but we fey do tend to prank people, especially us fairies."

{Compared to what Emma did to the original me, this is nothing.} I answered with a mental shrug. It had been quite some time since I had thought about my dead ex-best friend. Or rather, the dead ex-best friend of my _original_. It was so hard to get that straight in my mind.

Nodding at that, the Fairy Queen led the group to a largish circular doorway that had a swirling vortex humming inside of it.

{What's this?} I asked.

"You would call it a wormhole." Oberon replied in his deep voice, "We refer to them as Aether Ports or Fairy Gates. A Master Port like this one allows instant travel to any location with a Secondary Port installed. Only someone bearing the correct magical signature can travel to a Master Port, however. One such as Titania, Mab or myself."

{Huh. Cool.}

Travelling through the Port was…weird. I had never teleported before, so I couldn't liken it to that, but it felt weirder than being near Labyrinth once she got her Shaker power fully deployed.

{I don't suppose I can change the way the entrance looks?} I asked dryly, eying the unimpressive and roughly cut doorway to the dungeon with a distinct lack of favour.

"It's a part of your dungeon; of course you can." Titania answered to my surprise, "At least you will once we get you settled. There are some rules for Dungeon Cores to follow, but we'll get to that later. For now…"

She led the party into my dungeon and I was just as unimpressed with the corridors of the first floor of my new domain. They were tall, wide and had no traps, from what I could see. Hell, there weren't even any rooms branching off from the path! Was the last guy a complete scholar or what?

My irritation with the previous Dungeon Core rose as we descended the remaining seven floors, each identical to the last. Well, this certainly wouldn't do. I was going to have to do some serious renovating.

At the end of the Eighth Floor was a large wooden door that had been broken through. It wasn't designed to stop armed and armoured intruders; more like keep irritating students out while the owner graded their papers.

{Do these knights have no subtlety?} I asked in exasperation as I added replacing the door to my to-do list. {And the last guy was a moron. Keeping his door out in plain sight like that? Please.}

"He was the model of the absent-minded professor." Titania sighed, "Absolutely no survival instincts whatsoever. Still, he didn't deserve what happened to him."

The inner room as a bit better, with an altar of some sort in the centre of a wide, circular room. It was atop a stepped dais that was at least a metre high. Lying shattered on the ground around the altar were the remnants of my predecessor. I couldn't help but want to shudder at the sight.

"Have Jaris' remains gathered for interment at the memorial." Titania directed the squad who had cleared the dungeon. They did so, reverently gathering up every shard of the remains of my predecessor and placing them in a box that Titania produced from one of the sacks.

"His name was Jaris Shanks." Mab sighed, "He was ninety-nine years old when he volunteered to be the first native-born wizard to be turned into a Dungeon Core. We needed to know if it could be done, rather than relying on outside souls as we had done up until that point, as Zion and Eden were getting close to our world at the time. It was judged to be a success, just barely. He was barely an indigo."

{What do the colours actually mean?} I asked.

"They display the…it's hard to describe it in English. The…timbre? The essence? The flavour? The strength? The quality? All of those combined, of the soul of the Dungeon Core." Oberon explained slowly, "You are the strongest type of mortal soul, the Rainbow Soul. At the very bottom is the Black Soul, made from animals. The more vibrant and bright that a colour is, the better suited a Dungeon Core is to being a Dungeon. A number of factors influence the colour of the souls, but self-sacrifice, willpower, determination and the amount of suffering that a soul has endured in its previous lifetime are all factors. I'm certain you can see why you are a Rainbow Soul."

I had sacrificed _everything_ to kill Zion. My mind. My future. My morals. My body. My good name. I sacrificed everything that was me, in order to save Earth Bet and all the other parallel worlds. I knew I would be seen as a monster, as someone just as bad as Zion, but I had done it anyway. I had done what had to be done, because no one else would have been able to do it.

At least, my original had done that. I was a recording, a copy, a mere _echo_ , of her, but I would have done the same thing, made the same choice. Zion had simply had to be stopped, regardless of the cost to myself.

{…I do.} I answered quietly.

Once the last of the shards of Jaris Shanks were swept up, Titania and Mab inspected the altar and the entire room in fact for any kind of magical booby-trap that would activate if a new Dungeon Core was installed. They found several, all designed to drive a Core insane or shatter them if certain conditions were met on the altar, with several magic-sapping curses embedded into the walls, floor and ceiling that would have made it almost impossible for a Core to gather any magic.

{I _really_ don't like this Mad King guy.} I remarked as the two Queens cursed in a strangely musical language as they waved their hands, drawing eldritch symbols and arcane formulae in the air hat sank into the rock of the walls in order to neutralise and exorcize the magic-sucking spells already present.

"Welcome to the club." Oberon deadpanned.

 _That_ startled a laugh out of me.

Finally, the two Fairy Queens deemed it safe for me to be placed upon the pedestal. Titania did it herself, with her physical strength rather than levitating me, which couldn't have been easy considering I had to weigh at least as much as she did. With a click, I settled into place on the altar.

And I could see…everything about the dungeon. Its exact dimensions, how old it was, and even what the materials that made it up where. It was quite the heady rush.

"Taylor?" Titania enquired worriedly, "You OK?"

{Y-Yeah…just…being all but omniscient inside a certain area is a bit much to get used to quickly.} I answered shakily.

"You aren't _quite_ omniscient, but it is a good comparison." Mab agreed, "You adjusted to it quickly though. Must be the effect of being linked to the Queen Administrator Shard for so long."

"Very likely." Oberon agreed, "Now, Taylor. Run through your knowledge of insects from your planet. Samples will appear on shelves on the walls."

Cracking my mental knuckles, I did so. Spiders, flies, beetles, wasps, bees, ladybugs, butterflies, moths…images of the various creatures that I had commanded and researched over the years flashed through my mind as I remembered them. On the outside, the fairy guards shifted uncomfortably as a Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Trapdoor Spider, Hornet, Killer Bee and other deadly insects and arachnids popped out of nowhere and onto shelves. Others that I hadn't controlled, and thus had a less thorough knowledge of, were slower to appear. Much to the confusion of some of the watching fairies, one thing that appeared was a crab.

"A crab?" Mab raised an eyebrow.

{My power wasn't the ability to control insects, Mab; it was the ability to control arthropods above a certain size. That includes caterpillars and crustaceans.} I informed the Queen of Air and Shadows, {It basically depended on the size and complexity of their brains. Lobsters and crabs aren't exactly breaking any intelligence records. I never bothered to try, but I think I could have controlled fish too.}

"Interesting." Mab mused, "Your power was more flexible than I anticipated and it shows that this dungeon is also more flexible than we had imagined. A crab…and is that a lobster?...shouldn't be able to manifest here if all this place should do is generate insects and magical constructs."

"I think when the Core before Jenis couldn't generate any mammals or birds, we didn't think to explore the less tried animals." Titania sighed, "I doubt it would have interested or helped poor Jenis, but it's good to know."

"Titania was the one who agreed to transmigrate poor Jenis, so she feels some responsibility for his fate." Oberon muttered to me, "She won't make that mistake with you, so expect to have a visitor at least once a week."

I was fine with that. I rather liked Titania, so having her over was not a problem.

{Um, something just occurred to me.} I said sheepishly, {Would these Slave Knights or whoever made the spells that were in this room have booby-trapped the rest of the dungeon too?}

Both Titania and Mab slapped a hand to their foreheads and fluttered over to my altar.

"Yes, they would have." Mab growled, irritated at not thinking of it herself, "Fortunately, we can use your connection to the dungeon as a conduit to find and neutralise the spells they may have placed. Do we have your permission to do so?"

{Go ahead.} I invited.

The two Fairy Queens placed their hands on my body and I felt the brush of their minds against mine. I showed them the dungeon and all the information that I was receiving via my connection to it. They took that and ran several spells across it at the speed of thought, revealing a load of spells designed to inhibit the gathering of either dark or light magic or both, as well as a few spells that were even now draining some of my magic in order to fuel an explosion spell of some sort.

The burning anger coming from Titania was blazing white-hot, while the quiet rage of Mab was as quiet as an assassin on a moonless night. Neither of them liked the types of spells that had been implanted here and they were not going to stand for it. With a concerted effort, the two Queens eliminated the spells infecting my dungeon and retrieved my stolen magic.

"That was quite the nasty surprise, Titania." Mab said once she opened her eyes.

"Agreed." The Queen of Light and Illusions said, "All of this is a lot more extensive than I would expect for a minor dungeon as this has been until this point. None of the other dungeons we've reclaimed have been nearly so booby-trapped. Why this one in particular?"

An idea came to me. {Coil.}

Three heads snapped around to gaze at me.

"Explain." Mab ordered.

{Coil could guess that you can and have transmigrated other Parahumans from Earth Bet after the Mad King made him a Dungeon Core.} I answered steadily, {When he heard about this place, he likely worried you would do exactly what you have done and transmigrate me in order to oppose him. He probably convinced the Mad King or one of his slaves that having me here would be a Bad Thing, and arranged a takeover. I think things went off the rails when the Slave Knights smashed Jenis' body though. I think the plan was to secure this place against being taken over by me by keeping Jenis in control.}

Oberon nodded slowly. "That…seems like a reasonable hypothesis."

"Considering _your_ original was directly responsible for the death of _his_ original, it is likely he'd be wary of giving you a place like this, which is almost tailor-made to your strengths." Mab agreed.

"Well, we scuppered his plans fairly quickly." Titania scowled, "I _will_ be examining the other dungeons we have recaptured for more spells such as what Mab and I found here. Subtle tittle things. Had we not used Taylor's Dungeon Core Connection as the medium for our scan, we would not have found them."

"I shall help you, sister. Some of those spells couldn't be detected with just your control over Light and Illusions or mine over Air and Shadow, but with both combined." Titania's opposite counterpart said grimly.

"For now, we should finish Taylor's inauguration." Oberon stated.

"Quite right." The Queen of Light and Illusions nodded, "Taylor, these sacks contain the starting amount of weapons, armour, accessories, gold, silver and copper for you to use as loot in your dungeon."

At her signal, the sacks were upturned, with swords, shields, pikes, halberds, daggers, axes and numerous coins of the various metal types. There were also numerous earrings, rings, necklaces, bangles, armbands and pieces of armour that seemed to be very mishmash in design. The sacks were even added, which gave Taylor an idea for the first floor boss…

"What you need to do is reach through the connection that you have and feel for the treasure, including the Knights who were defeated, and then try to draw them within you." Mab lectured me, "Try not to attempt to absorb Oberon, as he would be most irked."

"Indeed." The Ruler of the Wild deadpanned.

Reaching out, I did as asked and felt for the treasures that had been placed on my main room's floor. I deliberately ignored Oberon and then reached out to grab at the ten fallen Slave Knights. Then, with a sharp tug, I _drew_ them inside of me.

In a flash, the treasures were gone and I knew that they were all inside of me. The Knights, on the other hand…their equipment was inside me as well. But I couldn't feel their bodies.

"When a Dungeon Core draws a dead human body inside of themselves, they convert the body into magic." Oberon informed me when I voiced my confusion, "You will have noticed that the amount of Darkness magic you have at your disposal has increased, correct? These Slave Knights are positively ripe with it."

Now he mentioned it, I was aware of that fact. There was also something else…

{I also have a type of magic that Titania's download didn't tell me about.} I observed, {It's Slavery Magic.}

That got their attention.

"We've never captured someone in order to study the magic before!" Mab whispered eagerly, "If we could study it, the knowledge could be invaluable against the minions of the Mad King! We could free them of his enslavement with enough research!"

{I'll use the knowledge of enchanting that Titania gave me –} I started to say before the woman in question interrupted me.

"No, that power is corrupted and foul. Even with it inside of you and not doing anything, I worry for you." She snapped, "I know!"

With a gesture, she pulled an orb from nowhere. It was made of glass and was the size of a cabbage. It floated for a moment before she lowered it to the floor.

"Absorb that and then put it near the Slavery magic." She ordered, "It should suck all of it up."

I did as ordered. As she had hoped, the Slavery Magic was pulled into the orb and out of me. It was a bit of a relief, because it had been fighting to get free from my control.

"What now?" Mab asked, "The law clearly states that she cannot simply hand it over to you."

"Then we had better walk Taylor through the creation of her first magical beast." Oberon boomed.

"OK. Taylor, choose one of these things and channel magic into it, focussing on growth." Mab told me, waving at the wall of insects.

{Who's fighting it?} I asked. Mab, Titania and Oberon just smiled at me.

"WE are." The three said.

Hoo-boy. Last thing I wanna do is kill my new bosses, but I do wanna test to see exactly how well I can do without any instructions. Looking over my collection, I choose to create a mindless butterfly, a Monarch butterfly to be exact. Fitting for three monarchs to fight.

{So, I just insert magic into this husk of a butterfly?} I asked.

"Very slowly and carefully." Titania warned me, " _Especially_ as all you have is Darkness magic. That can be very tricky in large quantities."

Mentally frowning, I followed my orders. I envisioned a slim thread of Darkness magic flowing into the butterfly and making it grow larger. There was an effect almost immediately as the small insect swelled to three times its natural size, which was still not all that impressive. I fed more magic in, increasing the size of the pipeline from a thread to a cord, which made the butterfly grow again and again, first to the size of a corgi, then to the size of a Shetland pony.

Its colouration had changed too. Before, its wings had been the usual reddish-orange of its species. Now they were mottled black and white, with the black parts drawing light within their embrace.

"That should be a suitable challenge." Oberon nodded, "Definitely worthy of the Containment Orb full of Slavery Magic. Now, name your creation. Crude as it is, it deserves a name."

{…I suck at naming things.} I said after a moment, {But…how does the Dark Monarch sound?}

"Not bad." Mab smirked as she drew her dagger from her belt, "Now wrap a strand of magic around the orb and the Dark Monarch and imagine the orb appearing where the Dark Monarch will be when it is defeated."

Doing so was actually fairly easy. Had Titania given me more information than she had said when she downloaded knowledge into me earlier?

{Done.} I announced and then granted the Dark Monarch instincts akin to a wild dog and ordered it to take flight. With a rapid fluttering of the wings, the Dark Monarch Butterfly lifted off for the first time. It looked _wrong_. Something the size of Earth's smallest pony shouldn't be able to fly like that; it was physically impossible, especially as it had no endoskeleton. Still, here it was.

"I wonder what abilities it possesses?" Oberon mused as he pulled a sword out of seemingly nowhere.

"I think it can negate or absorb light. Look at its wings." Titania remarked. She had a staff of gnarled wood in her hands. It looked like a very long chopstick.

"Yes. Taylor must have subconsciously designed it to specifically counter you." Mab grinned, "Of course, it could also protect itself from my Shadows. We'll just have to see, shan't we, dear?"

"Just so." Oberon rumbled, "Taylor, order it to attack us and then do nothing."

Reluctantly I did so.

With a shriek, the Dark Monarch unleashed a small tornado of black pollen at Mab. Oberon made a giant leaf appear with a gesture of his free hand and it blocked the pollen. Titania flew up and unleashed a blast of light from her staff that should have struck the monstrous insect on its head.

Instead, the blast disintegrated and flowed into the wings, turning them partially white.

"As I thought." The Queen of Light and Illusions sighed, "Mab? Your turn."

"With _pleasure_." The Unseelie Queen smirked. She slashed her dagger and unleashed a crescent-shaped blade of darkness that sliced through Oberon's leaf and the cloud of dark pollen as if they were not even there. It looked to be about to cut the Dark Monarch in half, when a shield of light appeared in front of it and cancelled out her attack.

"What in the…?!" Mab breathed in shock.

"I see…it absorbs light and uses it to counter darkness and shadow magics, possibly even weapons imbued or enchanted with those effects." Oberon deduced, "I wonder if it works the other way around?"

"Just kill it, Oberon." Titania sighed, "We can get Taylor to let you experiment later."

"As you say." The King of the Wild nodded and then seemed to teleport, bisecting the Dark Monarch with one cut of his blade. As the first monster I had ever made fell to the ground, the Orb appeared in mid-air and was swiftly caught by Titania's magic.

{I'm a bit sad that it lasted such a short time.} I sighed.

"It lasted a handful of minutes against three of the most powerful beings in the world." Mab corrected me, "That is something to be proud of, Taylor. I would place this as a Boss monster for the Fifth Floor, perhaps even the Sixth. That pollen was highly corrosive; look at the remains of Oberon's [Leaf Shield] spell."

Indeed, the leaf the size of a manhole cover was being eaten by the black pollen that coated its two halves.

I noticed something. {Hey, I have some Light magic! Looks like whatever Light magic it absorbs but doesn't use in battle comes to me when its defeated.}

"That is a highly useful ability." Titania said, looking impressed as she beckoned one of the soldiers to carry the Orb, "Now then…let's see what materials are useful in it."

As an insect, the Dark Monarch didn't really have much to offer. The eyes were apparently useful for Dark resistance potions, and the wings still absorbed light and shadow, much to Mab and Titania's curiosity, but that was it. When they had harvested all they could of it, the corpse dissolved and I noticed I had about half of the darkness magic I had used to alter the Dark Monarch back.

"That's normal." Titania said when I mentioned this, "The materials take up most of the magic you use to create the monsters, so you automatically reabsorb the rest when the materials are taken."

The next little while was spent setting up the magical tithe system that would supply me with magic from all three of the fairy monarchs, which was very rare, or so Mab claimed. Finally, we got to the stage where they were almost ready to leave.

"Before we leave, each of us has a gift for you." Titania smiled, "Oberon, you first."

The King of the Wild Forest nodded. "I was watching Earth Bet when I felt a soul leave you unwillingly. I collected it and held it in case you were ever transmigrated here."

Cupping his two hands, a grey core appeared in them. I curiously reached out with my mind and felt a familiar being inside of it. A mind I had controlled before, not as Khepri, not as Weaver, but as Skitter the Warlord. It was…

{Atlas? Atlas, is that you?!} I gasped.

From the core, I felt recognition and loyalty. It _was_ my Atlas!

Smiling lightly, Oberon made another hole in my altar and placed Atlas' Core in it, just to my left.

"Most Dungeon Cores cannot sustain a Subordinate Core for quite some time after they are created, but with our magic aiding you, you will be able to do so for Atlas." Oberon told me.

{Oberon…thank you.} I said hoarsely. Leaving Atlas behind had been the hardest thing for me to do when I became a member of the Wards. He had starved to death thanks to Panacea's dratted injunction to him that I had to order him to eat. Now we both had a second chance.

"My turn." Titania smiled and held up a glowing orb, "It isn't much, but I I have gathered some small Light Crystals that you can embed in monsters and increase the power and potency of any Light or Illusion magic that you give them."

{Thanks. That will be useful.} I said sincerely, still a bit awed that I had Atlas back.

"And of course, the best is saved till last." Mab smirked, "Now, ordinarily, Titania would be providing you with a Dungeon Fairy, one who has the duty of guiding you and informing you of magic and the rules of being a Dungeon. I have asked, and she has agreed, to cede that task to a fairy of my choosing. One who comes from Earth Bet, in fact, and one who owes you more than she can ever truly repay you."

With a click of her fingers, another fairy emerged from Oberon's shadow. Long red, hair, a well-proportioned figure and those eyes…there was no way I'd forget this person.

{E-Emma…?!}

Emma Barnes, my original's ex-best friend flinched at the anger and disbelief in my voice. "Hey Taylor."

 **Hehehehehehehehe.**


	67. Flying Free

_Taylor's Room, Hebert Residence_

Mom always said that one day, I'd grow into a beautiful woman, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. I really don't think that this was what she meant though.

Standing in front of my mirror, I looked on in bemusement as the pair of white and black butterfly wings slowly flexed themselves at my command. I also looked towards the pair of antennae poking through my hair. They were long, black and twitched every so often. I could feel the slight breeze from the rest of the house through them and my sense of smell was about twice as sensitive as normal.

The rest of my body looked…weird too. My skin was blue, my eyes (as in all of my eyes; sclera, pupil and iris) were bright red and my hair was another shade of blue.

I had woken up looking like this, sans the wings, which had popped out just a moment ago. The last few weeks had been horrible since my mother passed away, with everything coming to a head last night when I had a great row with Dad before stomping into my room and slamming the door shut before crying my eyes out until I fell asleep.

Oddly enough, just before sleep overtook me, I had this odd dream about…whales? Floating in space?

Dismissing it with a shake of my head, I focussed on the problem at hand; I was as blue as a blueberry and had freaking wings! Pacing slightly for a minute or two, I stopped and concentrated on my original appearance.

Schloop!

The antennae on my head were sucked into my hair before vanishing, followed by my wings folding up and vanishing inside of me. My eyes became normal again and my hair turned brown again. The last thing to revert was my skin.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I froze as my eyes focussed on a part of the mirror I had been avoiding with them since the onset of puberty; my chest. Reaching up hesitantly, I cupped my breasts, shocked to discover that there were actually enough of them there to cup! I had to have grown a cup-size at least, maybe more!

Turning to the side, I checked my butt out and found that it was slightly more feminine as well. Holy shit!

Shaking my head, I decided that this required research. Thankfully, it was Summer Vacation and Dad had long since fallen into a depression so deep that I was surprised that he noticed what he ate for breakfast.

Shrugging away the frustration which had sparked the argument of last night, I got dressed and headed out. Dad was away at work already, as he had been since the funeral. The only sign of life in him was when he wasn't sitting around in the house, when he was doing something.

This was all my fault. It was my fault that Mom had died, my fault that Dad was falling to pieces. All of it was on me. I could never make this up to Dad, even although he had said that he didn't blame me. It didn't matter, because I still blamed me.

 _Later_

 _Library_

Leaning back on my computer chair, I sighed. On the screen was a forum on PHO, Parahumans Online, which discussed the different types of powers that Parahumans could have. There were a couple of things my powers (I actually had powers! Squee!) could be. Back in the eighties, a system was developed to categorise powers. One defunct category that was scrubbed was the Shifter category, which was split into Changer and Breaker.

Changers could transform their bodies, while Breakers could make their bodies say fuck you to the laws of physics. I could safely say that my other form was definitely on the Changer side of things, with the wings and antennae giving me a Mover and Thinker rating respectively while I was in that form. Quite what the beautification of my body (Actual breasts at least!) was under was a bit beyond me though.

"Taylor!" a familiar, and not entirely unwelcome, voice whisper-screamed in my ear, making me levitate in fright.

"Emma!" I complained, turning around in my chair and glaring at my best friend-slash-sister. Emma Barnes was redheaded and looked utterly gorgeous. Even with my newly-improved body, she shot me out of the water. Her grey, sharp eyes were currently narrowed at me in displeasure.

"Taylor. I thought we were going to meet this morning?" She said sweetly, making me facepalm. That's right; we were supposed to go shopping together, but…

"I had a big row with Dad last night, Ems." I said apologetically, "I completely forgot, sorry."

"You and _Uncle Danny_ had a row?" a single elegantly trimmed eyebrow shot up in surprise.

My Dad and Emma's, Alan Barnes, had been friends since they were in College. Since as long as I can remember, Emma's been by my side, even before kindergarten. I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me, we were so close. She was less like my BFF and more like my sister in all but blood.

"About…you know…Mom and how Dad's been so depressed." I muttered as I turned around again to start logging off the computer, "I almost never see or hear him these days. He's always at work. He's avoiding me, I know it."

"Oh, Tay…" Emma said softly.

"Anyway, we need to talk." I said firmly, "I found something out this morning that's…well, you'll see when we get home."

"Which one?" Emma snarked as I finished with the computer and stood up. I was so used to going to her house and she to mine that 'home' was a bit of a murky water thing.

"Mine." Nothing against Alan and Zoe, but I only wanted to show this to Emma, and an empty house is what I needed right now.

"OK, but this had _better_ be worth skipping out on shoe shopping." Emma grumbled.

 _Later_

 _Living Room, Hebert Home_

"This was _so_ worth skipping out on shoe shopping!" Emma breathed as she gazed wide-eyed at my transformed self. My wings fluttered self-consciously as she seemed to drink me in.

"Emma! Stop looking so much!" I whined. I was shy, dammit!

"Sorry, but…wow." My almost-sister shook her head in admiration, "Tay, you look _gorgeous_ like this."

Again, my wings fluttered in embarrassment.

"T-The best part is that I actually have boons now!" I said to divert attention from my butterfly form. Reverting back, I pulled my t-shirt down for emphasis.

"Holy shit!" Emma gaped for a second before hugging me, "Congrats Taylor! I know it's been _bugging_ you."

"Emma, that pun was so bad I'm surprised that the fabric of reality is still intact." I deadpanned at her.

"You have no sense of humour." My best friend rolled her eyes. "So what're you gonna do now? Join the Wards?"

The Protectorate Wards were the underage members of the National Protectorate, the official hero team of America. They were paid, given a stipend towards college, as well as trained in the use of their powers. When they reached eighteen, they were officially promoted to members of the Protectorate.

"I dunno. Dad's a bit gloomy right now, what with…with what happened to Mom and everything." I admitted with a crack in my voice, "He…might forbid me. B-besides, they haven't been very useful, have they?"

Emma reluctantly nodded. In recent years, the gangs that made up the Bay had tightened their grasp on it, with the local branch of the Protectorate ranging between ineffective to totally useless. More worryingly, the number of Capes they had on hand had been pared away over the years. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Velocity, Assault, Battery and the new arrival Dauntless were the only adult Capes with the Protectorate ENE. The Wards had Triumph, Aegis, Clockblocker, Gallant, Vista and the new Tinker Cape Kid Win.

This was set against the _ten-plus_ Capes that the Empire 88 had at their disposal, not to mention Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu. He had beaten down the entire Protectorate single-handedly when he had arrived in the Bay. The Merchants…were irritating.

"The only other options are New Wave and going indie, Tay." Emma narrowed her eyes at me.

"New Wave is a family operation, and most of the adult members are semiretired now." I answered hesitantly. Well, there hadn't been an _official_ retirement notice, but since the majority of their flag-waving was done by Glory Girl and Panacea, New Wave may as well be gone.

"You _cannot_ be thinking of going solo." Emma stated heatedly.

"Emma…"

"NO! You might get killed!" the redhead barked.

"Emma, I want to make a difference." I said patiently, "We've both researched the Wards' patrol route. They never go anywhere near the areas of the city that need patrolling, sticking just to the Broadwalk and that part of the Docks that isn't claimed by the ABB and the Empire. That is so far from making a difference that it makes me want to choke. And I'd have to put up with it until I was eighteen. That's four years, Emma. I seriously doubt I could take that."

Growling, my friend paced back and forth in front of me. "OK, fine. Then at least try new Wave. You might not have to reveal your identity because you don't live with other Parahumans like they do."

That was another thing that the New Wave Movement had against them. They were 'Capes with Accountability,' meaning no masks. Everyone knew the identities for the New Wave Capes.

"I dunno, Ems." I said doubtfully, "I don't even know if I have any useful powers. I mean, yeah, I can fly, have a super sense of smell and sense the air currents, big wow. I only just got my powers today, so I need to experiment to see what I've got."

Emma gave me a look. "You're planning on munchkining your powers, aren't you?"

"Say what?"

"Dad was a tabletop gamer back in the day." The redhead explained impatiently, "A slang word he used sometimes was 'munchkining', which literally means to maximise mastering what powers you've got to the extreme."

"That…pretty much sums it up." I said with a surprised blink. It wasn't often that _Emma_ taught _me_ about new words. She wasn't stupid by any means, but she admitted herself that I was the brains between the two of us.

"Fine." My friend rolled her eyes dramatically, "At the very least I'll help you."

I squeaked and hugged her. "Thank you Emma!"

"OK, OK, so what first?" Emma laughed and hugged me back.

"We need somewhere to practice that won't draw attention." I said with a frown as I drew back, "I mean, testing my ability to sense winds and smells doesn't take much room, but I think I read somewhere that butterfly wings have scales on them that are an irritant or poison. What if I can, I dunno, project them, spread them over an area? Or direct them at just one group or person?"

Emma blinked. "That…OK, that _does_ sound good. Remind me to buy a gas mask to wear when we're testing that out."

"Depends on if the stuff works from being breathed in or by skin contact." I answered absently, "Some species of butterflies have toxic flesh, like the Monarch Butterfly, and they also taste bad, as indicated by their bright wing colours."

Emma just blinked again. "OK, the fact that you know that means you did more than stare at PHO today. Let me guess, you trawled several sites for information on butterflies?"

I blushed. Emma knew me too well.

"You never change." The redhead sighed, "Let's start tomorrow, because we are going shopping!"

"What for?" I asked in confusion, "Shoes?"

"That and maybe something for you to use as a costume." Emma smirked, "Knowing you, you'd try to go out with a hoodie and cargo pants on."

Again, she knew me too well.

"Stick with me Tay, and I'll have you looking better than Victoria Dallon." She smirked and my stuttered denials. Urg, friends!

 **So this was something I thought of. What if she had Triggered as a result of the stress of her mother's death and Danny doing his depression bit? She wanted to fly free…and so turned into a humanoid Butterfree. Plus, it's before the incident with the ABB, so no evil Emma.**

 **Oh and these ratings, in fact all the ratings in my ficlets, are just to give a general idea of her powers. I'm certain that other people can think of different angles to take on them. Please do!**

 **Changer: 5 (Sub Ratings: Thinker 3, Mover: 4, Shaker: 5, Blaster: 5) (Possesses the ability to transform into a humanoid butterfly. Has the ability to fly via the wings. Via the antennae, possesses the ability to read the air currents around her for several metres, as well as an increased sense of smell. Is able to fire beams from her eyes that drastically affects the sense of balance of anyone she hits. Is able to generate small tornadoes via her wings. Can generate the scales on her wings en-mass with a variety of effects, including sleep inducing, paralysation, aggression incitement and poison. Can let loose a shriek that stuns those who hear it.)**

 **Breaker: 4 (Is able to scatter her body into a cloud of butterflies. Unable to attack in this form. Unable to use her powers aside from flight in this form. Able to assume this form even without Changing into her Butterfly form. Can reassemble anywhere within several meters of her initial location. Has a hive mind in this form, so is granted a Thinker: 2 rating while in this form. Can regenerate her body from a single butterfly if necessary.)**


	68. Bubbling Up

When one thinks of a Blaster or a Shaker, they look at Legend, Purity, Lady Photon and even Gallant for the former, with a plethora of examples for the latter. Just in Brockton Bay, you have Vista, who can bend space pretty much however she wants, and Labyrinth (OK, technically she's a merc, but she lives in the Bay) who can alter the terrain around her just by being there.

Me? I was both, but my powers…yeah; 'unimpressive' was one word to think of to describe them. The ability to fire blasts of bubbles from my hands, as well as create bubbles from the area around me. Whoop-de-fucking-do.

 _Hebert Home_

It's been a month since I got out of hospital and I was still keeping my powers a secret from Dad. What good would it do to tell him about them? They were weak as hell and couldn't even bruise a person. Sure, getting bubbles into your eyes could be irritating and sore, but against someone who had a proper mask, including a visor, or even just a pair of goggles like Squealer of the Merchants wore, neutralised even that small advantage.

As to the wide-area variant of my powers, I had experimented and discovered that the amount of bubbles generated greatly depended on the amount of moisture that was available, both in the air and on the ground. After or during a rainstorm, I could make enough to fill the warehouse I was testing my powers out in. During a day where it was blazing sunshine and it hadn't rained in a while, I was lucky to her more than a handful.

Yes, I could use my Blaster power to raise the amount of moisture available, as it seemed I created bubbles from nothing, but the process would be somewhat time-consuming as I would have to cover every area I wanted to use my Shaker power on thoroughly and then what? Big wow, I have a large area full of bubbles. What the hell is that going to do to Kaiser? Make him rust?

I was sitting in my room and staring up at the handful of bubbles that I'd generated. I'd discovered that I could make as many or as few as I wanted and if there was no-one around to attack, they just floated there. I idly wondered if I could get a job as a soap advertisement poster girl as it seemed that was just about all I was good for.

Whimsically, I willed one bubble to pop. It was, fortunately for me, one of the larger ones drifting near the ceiling. With a crack none too dissimilar to a car backfiring, the bubble exploded, leaving a dent in the ceiling. I sat up abruptly and gaped at the dent in stupefaction.

"Holy shit…!" I breathed. Looks like I didn't do enough tests on my power after all.

A smile broke over my face as I pondered on this new development. I stood up and headed for the door. I had more tests to do now.

 _Two Months Later, Mid-Evening_

 _Docks Area_

So here I was now. After discovering I could make bubbles the size of tennis balls explode like downsized grenades, I had gone back to the abandoned warehouse where I had practiced my power originally and left it a lot more ruined than when I'd first found it, on the inside anyway.

The smallest bubbles I could make with either my Blaster or Shaker powers were about the size of a pea, while the largest I could make was about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. The explosions they generated were…spectacular, in the case of the large bubbles. The smaller ones were manageable. I'd guess that the concussive force of the average bubble was about comparable to a rubber bullet, while the explosions scaled up with the size of the bubbles. The Volkswagen size ones exploded like a bunker buster bomb.

My bubbles were also useful as transportation, funnily enough. I could control the surface tension of my bubbles, so they didn't distort or warp when I moved them, as well as allow myself to enter one that was large enough. Downside was that they were not bulletproof, or even knife-proof, so travelling around in or on one in the middle of a fight was a no-go. Still, it beat hoofing it all over the place.

The last thing I discovered was that I could fill the bubbles with a liquid that sprayed the area when they exploded. It could be almost any liquid whatsoever, aside from blood or milk, thank god. That meant I was still bound by the Manton Limit. The more I knew about the liquids I used, the more effective they were. This lead to seeing the bizarre sight of exploding artificial orange juice bubbles when I tried it out for the first time.

Thus far, I had researched acids, alkalis, containment foam, nitro-glycerine, water and a few other types of liquids that might come in handy. The weakest link was the containment foam one, as I only had the vaguest idea about what it was and did. I knew that it was the PRT's go-to ammo type to deal with Capes, I knew that it was a liquid-like foam that hardened around them and restricted their movement and I knew that Dragon, the world's foremost Tinker, was the only source of it in the world. That was the sum of my, and most people's, knowledge on the subject.

Some of the liquids were, bluntly put, deadly. The NG especially, but the acids wouldn't be pretty if they landed on people's bare skin, and I couldn't alter the stuff to be less deadly. I'd just have to settle for some of the less deadly stuff unless I was up against Lung or something.

So, with that all in mind, I was sitting inside a bubble, cross legged and floating across the sky of Brockton Bay. I was high enough up that the entire vista of the Bay was spread out before me, including the Rig out in the middle of the Bay's bay, the Medhall building, the PRT building and the sprawling junkyard that was the Boat Graveyard. Immediately beneath me was the Dock area of the Bay. I'd come up here to ruminate on things.

In the past couple of hours, I'd stopped a jewel robbery, beaten down a couple of Merchants trying to peddle their wares on street corners, stopped a purse snatcher and then come to the Docks.

Not bad for a first night out.

A flash of light caught my eye as I looked down at the Docks and I nudged my bubble transport down closer to see what was going on before blanching. Down there was Lung. Fucking _Lung_ , the Dragon of Kyushu. He was blasting fire all over the place and looked as if he was ramping up for a fight. He was ten feet tall, covered in scales and had vestigial wings sprouting from his back.

Fleeing from him on the backs of what looked like Wargs from _Lord of the Rings_ were four costumed figures. Capes then. Heroes? Villains? Rogues? Which they were I didn't know, but I _did_ know that if something wasn't done soon, they were all going to die.

Could I stand myself if I let them die without even trying? No.

Looking down at my outfit, which was an embarrassingly primitive ensemble; jeans, a black hoodie underneath a camo combat jacket, a masquerade mask that I had spray-painted blue and added white lines that looked like circles to resemble bubbles. Hardly the kind of thing to fight a Rage Dragon in. Fortunately, I'd picked up a bunch of cash from the various crooks I'd beaten into unconsciousness, just under a thousand dollars in total. That ought to pay for some raw materials for a proper costume, or at least the start of one.

' _Focus, Taylor. Stop prevaricating._ ' I scolded myself. I had to get down there, now.

Speeding my descent, I safely exited the bubble, dropping to the roof of a brick warehouse in front of where the monster dog things were taking their riders. Commanding the bubble to float over to a few meters in front of the warehouse, I crouched to the ground and pulled my mask up. Game time.

 _With Regent_

Jean-Paul Vasil, formerly known as Hijack and currently Regent, was having a shitty day. He, under his new pseudonym of Alec Marceau, had been hired on as a member of the Undersiders a few months back and it was an OK gig. He got money to play with and got to keep under the radar from his insane and psychotic family in Canada.

Until their boss, for whatever reason Regent couldn't imagine, had ordered them to rob a casino. It hadn't been just _any_ casino, mind you. It had belonged to Lung and robbing it had crawled up the Rage Dragon's ass and he had come looking for them, Oni Lee in tow.

The blank slate of a tele-duplicator had been reasonably easy to take care of thanks to Tattletale's ability to read his intent on where he was going to teleport to next. Even with his suicide bomber tactics from the clones he left behind when he teleported, they had forced Oni Lee to retreat.

Then Lung had arrived and things had gone to hell. Grue had taken one look at the Dragon of Kyushu before deciding, sensibly, that discretion was the better part of valour and ordered their retreat. That had been ten minutes ago and Lung had yet to give up the chase, his anger that their flight ramping him up even further as he pursued them.

Things were, as he had alluded to earlier, pretty shitty, and he didn't think that things were getting any better when the giant bubble the size of a small car floated towards them out of nowhere.

"Head right at that turn!" Tattletale yelled.

"Under the Unknown Bubble of Who-Knows-What?!" Regent shouted back.

"It's not aimed at us! Lung's the target!"

OK. Regent could and would get behind that. Anyone who wanted to save his Canadian keister from being charbroiled was definitely someone under the 'friend-to-be' list that he had. At the moment, it had 'unknown Cape saving his rear' on it.

"Cool! Let's get gone then!"

As Brutus, Angelica and Judas obeyed Bitch's command to turn right, Regent looked up and saw a crouched figure wearing a hoodie and a heavy jacket atop the warehouse in front of them. Then they were around the corner and, at their Thinker's urging, turning into a small gap between one warehouse and the next.

Tattletale jumped off of Angelica, with Bitch right behind her. Grue followed suit from Brutus and Regent, who appreciated the irony, leapt off of Judas.

"We need to watch this." Tattletale was saying.

"We should be heading for home!" Grue hissed as he followed the purple-dressed Thinker up the stairs to the roof.

"You can go if you want, Grue." Tattletale said sweetly.

Regent almost let out a chortle at that. Only the threat of being ripped apart by a Rage Dragon stilled his voice.

The Undersiders made their way to the roof and paused when they heard a loud explosion that made the three dogs, now shrunken and normal-sized, whimper.

Tattletale led the way up and then stealthily snuck over to the side of the building, where they all saw something that made their jaws drop. Lung was knocked back on his ass, scales cracked and damaged from an explosion that had somehow splashed inches of water all over the damn place. What was more surprising was that hundreds, _thousands_ , of bubbles were emerging from the water and floating around Lung like a cage.

With a snarl of fury, the Dragon of Kyushu leapt to his feet an d swung at the bubbles immediately in front of him.

 **[KABAM!]**

With a crack, about three hundred or so of the bubbles exploded, sending Lung staggering back. That wasn't all that happened though; Lung was coated in something, a clear liquid of some sort…

"Holy shit! That's nitro-glycerine!" Tattletale hissed, recoiling slightly.

"Shit, you for real?" Grue hissed, "These bubbles are explosives that make nitro?!"

Regent knew the rumours about Lung, and if they were right…

Sure enough, Lung roared and flames blazed around his arms…before the nitro coating him reacted and exploded. The scene was not pretty; one of the man's arms had been blown off completely, with the other being almost flayed to the bone in places. His draconic face was scorched and burnt too.

"Holy shit." Regent breathed. That…now _that_ was hardcore.

Still, Lung was nothing if not persistent and he staggered to his feet, the wounds he had already rapidly healing and another arm sprouting at an unreal rate from the burnt and bloody stump.

In a silent, synchronised rush, most of the bubbles charged towards Lung and then exploded. Only, it wasn't a loud one, a party popper compared to the previous explosions. This time, the ABB leader was covered in a kind of white foam that looked really, really familiar…

"Containment Foam?!" the blond Thinker hissed as the stuff hardened into solidity, trapping Lung where he stood.

"Tats, I think now would be a good time to leave!" Grue growled insistently and this time, Tattletale nodded.

As the Undersiders retreated for the night, Regent wondered about the Cape who had a deceptively powerful power. The Boss was always looking for more crew for the Undersiders, and if Bitch didn't scare her off like she had done to Spitfire, then they'd have another teammate.

He'd vote for her.

 **So, this is the new power. Kind of taking the Rokubi's power from Naruto and changing it up a bit. A bit of humour there…orange juice bombs…hah!**

 **Seriously though, this is a pretty nice power, albeit not all that conductive to one-on-one, up-close fighting. Let me know what you think.**

 **Blaster: 6 (Able to fire a stream of bubbles at her enemies. Is able to control how many bubbles she generates, as well as how big they are.)**

 **Shaker: 7 (Able to generate bubbles from her surroundings. Only able to generate bubbles with moisture present around her. Bubbles, including those generated by her Blaster ability, can be telekinetically controlled and remotely detonated. Bubbles can be set to generate any liquid known by the user upon detonation, other than blood and other wholly organic compounds, such as milk. List of known liquids includes nitro-glycerine, a long list of acids and alkali, a host of household product cleaning liquids, containment foam and napalm. The more she knows about the liquid to be created, the more accurately her power will reproduce it.)**

 **Mover: 3 (Able to enter sufficiently large bubbles and use them as transport. Moves pretty fast.)**


	69. Star Light, Star Bright

_Private Room, Brockton Bay General Hospital_

Daniel 'Danny' Hebert sat beside his comatose daughter's bed and wanted to weep. Again. It had been almost two weeks since someone had pulled the cruellest prank he had ever heard of and shut her in a locker full of _disgusting filth_ , and he had cried more in the last two weeks than he had since the death of his wife.

' _Annette…I'm sorry. I failed our Little Owl._ ' He thought wretchedly. Taylor and her mother were so alike, despite the fact that she had inherited a lot of his own characteristics and mental habit from him, that being around her in the early days of the aftermath of the funeral had been _painful_. So, he being the pathetic failure of a father that he was, had thrown himself into work, with the absolute minimum amount of interaction with Taylor on the odd occasion that he had encountered her.

He had become a ghost in his own house as he ever so slowly recovered himself. He had even sent Taylor to Summer Camp. She had recovered faster than he had, thanks to Emma Barnes, her best friend, and going to Summer Camp had seemed to heal her fully.

Then… _then_ things started going wrong. He had been kept in the dark by Taylor, but he had found her so-called 'bully diary' and he still felt the rage build as he recalled the preface that Taylor had written into the first page of the diary, that the book only held a small portion of what had been done to her, that the bullying had started the _previous year_. Some of the things done had been petty, some physical, some horrifying, all of it to his _daughter_.

Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, Sophia Hess. Those three were the ringleaders behind the torment of his daughter for over a year and a half and he couldn't _do_ anything about it. That had been the thing that bothered him the most. Alan, Emma's father, was hyper protective of his children and wouldn't take any implication of wrongdoing well without a case fit to pass muster in a court of law, because he would sue for slander and defamation of character, among other things.

Danny had no clue about the other two, but some careful poking around had revealed that Roderick 'Roddy' Clements was a shift manager at one of the few factories still operating in Brockton Bay, with his wife a full-time housewife, while the Hess Family was a typical story for a family who had lost a parent. The mother worked her ass off as a secretary and had a useless excuse for a boyfriend who mooched the money and wasn't exactly nice to her daughter and son.

None of this pointed out why the three had spearheaded a campaign of bullying that seemingly involved the entire student body and possibly the faculty of Winslow itself, which was patently ridiculous. Yet, if the idea was so ridiculous, why was it that the teachers hadn't noticed _anything_? Why hadn't they stepped in? Why did their active collaboration or unspoken willing ignorance of the situation seem to make the most sense here?

It was because of that that he had taken to carrying Taylor's diary around with him, if only to read it and castigate himself for not realising that something was wrong with his usual chatterbox of a daughter.

"Mr Hebert?" a voice, a female voice, said uncertainly. He looked up and saw a nurse at the door to the room.

"Yes?" he asked somewhat hoarsely. He hadn't spoken in a while.

"Doctor Michaels has called in Panacea to have a look at your daughter." The nurse said softly, "She should be here within the next hour or so."

A surge of hope crested inside of him. Panacea was the world's foremost healer and had been successful at curing all types of cancer and other previously incurable diseases. Then a horrible though occurred to him.

"But isn't she supposed to be unable to do anything to do with the brain?" he asked in concern.

"She can monitor and read the brain, even if she can't do anything to alter it." The nurse replied with the air of someone who had answered that question too many times to count, "Even if she can't fix whatever's wrong, she can give us a good idea of what is wrong so we can try to fix it."

After the nurse left, Danny rubbed his weary eyes and hoped that Panacea could do something to help his daughter, because he was running out of hope.

Unseen by him, a light glowed on Taylor's forehead for a moment before fading.

 _Later_

 _With Panacea_

Amy Dallon, dressed in her costume as Panacea, entered the hospital with a barely concealed sigh. Another day, another bunch of patients that never seemed to end.

"Ah, Panacea. Good to see you." Jeffery Michaels greeted her. He was the doctor at Brockton Bay General that acted as her liaison with the staff when he was on duty. He was a good man and a good doctor and actually tried to make her leave at reasonable times.

"Doctor Michaels." She nodded, "You don't normally call for me. What's the problem?"

He gestured at her to follow him, which she did.

"A patient was admitted two weeks ago after being viciously attacked on the first day of school." He explained, "I'm her doctor. The patient, a Miss Taylor Hebert, has been in a coma of sorts for that entire time."

"What were her injuries?" she asked with a frown. A coma for two weeks?

"Scratches, bruises, some broken bones, most of them in the hands. A minor concussion." Michaels listed, "What was far more concerning was the number of infections that she received. She was trapped in a locker, filled with…well, used feminine products that had apparently had all of the Winter break to rot and ferment, for over four hours."

Panacea blanched at that. "Holy fuck!"

"Exactly. We've had her on a general antibiotic and we've been flushing her system with water drips, but she remains comatose." The doctor continued with a grimace, "The police have refused to hand over any samples of the biomass that Miss Hebert was trapped with as it is evidence in an ongoing investigation with possible terrorist connections. Our blood tests haven't shown us anything in her system for the last two days or so, but given the sheer amount of… _filth_ …she was exposed to, some might have migrated to other locations in her body by this point."

"All _too_ likely." Amy agreed with a disgusted expression. "Have they caught who did this to her?"

"Apparently not." Michaels scowled, "According to a friend of mine in the force, no-one saw her go in and no-one heard her cries for help. She was only released when a janitor let her out. She was feral and attacked him, so the man responded by clubbing her unconscious. I don't blame him for overreacting, but it has put us in this rather awkward position."

"Christ." Panacea muttered. The poor girl wasn't having much in the way of luck, was she?

At length, they reached the door to the girl's private room. She had found it odd that she had one, until she spotted that it was one designed to be hermetically sealed at the drop of a button, just in case of one of Bonesaw's plagues getting out, just to give a random example.

Without knocking, Doctor Michaels opened the door and stepped into the room, Panacea following cautiously behind him. Lying on the sole bed in the room was a tall, almost painfully thin girl with a mane of brown hair and a mouth slightly too wide. Sitting next to the bed was a tall man with bags under his bespectacled, red-rimmed eyes, who was obviously her father.

"Mr Hebert, I thought you had gone home?" Doctor Michaels said in concern.

"I'll head home and catch some sleep after I find out what's wrong with my daughter, doctor." Mr Hebert answered with a slight slur of tiredness in it. It was plain to see even without using her power that he hadn't slept in some time, perhaps as long as two days.

"Very well." Michaels sighed, "Panacea, if you would?"

"Of course." Amy nodded before stepping forward, "Mr Hebert, do I have your permission to use my powers on your daughter to heal her?"

"Please." That one word carried more emotion than any angry diatribe or grief-stricken wail.

"OK. I promise to do my best." She answered. Stepping forwards, Panacea looked at Taylor Hebert closely for a moment before gently pressing one hand to her skin.

Then she stiffened.

"Doctor, please start taking notes on the infections she has as I speak them aloud and cleanse them." She half-growled. Some of these were almost like the work of a deranged Biotinker, although not nearly on the same level as Bonesaw. Bonesaw could make diseases look like a Picasso painting, while this was a slapdash effort by a deranged amateur by comparison.

Panacea started listing the infections in a clipped and emotionally frozen voice as she found and cleansed them from Taylor Hebert's system. Her lungs, her liver, her pancreas, her womb, her bone marrow, her kidneys…the list went on. The only reason the tall girl was still alive was because she had, in that foul and dank locker, Triggered and become a Parahuman.

She had a baseline physiology that had an immune system that was matching the infections blow for blow, even although most of her body's resources were required to do so. Thus the coma, as her powers had shut down her body aside from the most necessary and vital functions in order to combat the viruses and infections. Panacea would estimate that she was a Brute 3 for that kind of immune system, as it would translate to a healing factor once Taylor was back to normal.

That wasn't all though. There were oddities about the girl's body that Panacea couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't like there were areas she couldn't read exactly, but there were parts of her genetic code that were _blurred_ , for lack of a better term. It was as if she were trying to read several different people at once with her power. She had only attempted that once and had given it up, as it gave her something similar to a Thinker headache.

Odd that she wasn't getting one now though…

The New Wave healer opened her eyes and stepped back once the last of the viruses and infections were purified. "That was tiring." she muttered.

"Over _twenty_ infections…!" the doctor muttered in amazement, "I didn't think an ordinary human could survive this kind of thing!"

"Technically, she _isn't_ an ordinary human." Panacea sighed. Now comes the hard part. "Close the door doctor. You and Mr Hebert need to hear this."

Concerned, Michaels did as he was asked.

"Mr Hebert, have you ever heard of the term 'Triggering' when related to Parahumans?" Panacea asked seriously.

Michaels sucked in a deep breath as he saw immediately what she was getting at. Danny just blinked. "Uh…no. Can't say I've really paid much attention to the Cape scene other than when the gangs steal my workers."

At her blink of non-comprehension, he added, "I'm the Representative of the Dockworker's Association."

Ah.

"Well, the thing is…a Trigger Event, to give it its full name, is how Parahumans get their powers." She said carefully, "The name comes from the fact that something happens to a person, triggering and activating their powers. It can be a life threatening situation, a moment where all the stress from over a prolonged period of time hits you at once…anything sufficiently stressful. It's usually summed up as the worst day in a person's life."

"This happens to _every_ person with powers?" Danny asked in distress.

"For First Gen Capes, yes." Panacea confirmed, "For Second Gen Capes like the younger members of New Wave, it's not nearly as bad. Glory Girl Triggered during a moment of frustration at a basketball game, for example. A very public Trigger."

"I see…" the man said, horror creeping into his eyes as they darted between Panacea's face and his daughter's. "Y-You mean…?"

"She Triggered in the Locker." The healer said gently, "It's probably the only reason why she's still alive. The possibility of System Shock from so much filth getting into her system combined with the number of infections both major and minor that she received should have meant that she should have passed away at least a week ago. As it is, one power I _know_ she has is what is called a 'Brute' power. Basically, she's able to withstand blows that would break an ordinary human's bones. Unlike with my sister, she has a very strong bias towards resilience and regeneration rather than strength, but she's at least as strong as an amateur wrestler right now."

"I…see." The man gulped, "I lost Annette…I can't lose Taylor too. I'll have to tell her not to use her powers."

Panacea instantly shook her head. "That won't work."

"I beg your pardon?" Danny asked with narrowed eyes.

"Mr Hebert, a study has been carried out ever since the advent of Scion in the eighties." Michaels fielded this question for her. "Parahumans have an almost compulsive desire to _use_ their powers, almost an obsession. They _have_ to use them, even if it's like Cola Boy. It's been proven in scientific studies worldwide."

Cola Boy was the Hydrokinetic that worked for the Coca-Cola Company to advertise their soft drinks.

"Ok…Ok." Danny breathed out as he brought his panic attack-slash-temper under control, "So I get her into the Wards. They should be able to keep her safe there."

"Even if you agree, she'd have to agree as well." Panacea pointed out, "You can't simply sign her over to Director Piggot. And even with my help, she isn't going to be up and about for a couple of months, at least. At that point, you can bring it up with her."

"I am her _father_." The man argued.

"And this is _her power_." Michaels interjected again, "Unless she has used her power as a villain for a crime, you cannot speak on her behalf regarding how she uses it and for whom. This was upheld in the Supreme Court when a minor refused to work with the Wards when his parents unilaterally signed him up for the Wards after he Triggered. A Parahuman's power is theirs to use as they please, unless they break the law, at which point power of control is passed back to the parents or guardians. Of course, minors are _encouraged_ to join the Protectorate Wards or a PRT Affiliated hero team for their safety, and usually they accede to their parent's wishes, but the right of refusal is solely a Parahuman's regarding their power."

Danny's hands clenched before he slumped in his seat, defeated.

"You have a couple of months before that becomes a necessity." Panacea reassured him, "Even although her enhanced immune system was fighting back against the infections, there were a lot of them, and I had to use some of her fat reserves to repair some of the damage. She won't be able to do anything for at least a month, even with me helping her along, with physiotherapy adding another month at least."

' _That is, if her powers don't cut even more off the timeframe._ ' She silently added. Now that they didn't have to fight off the infections and viruses, they would start to restore her body to how it was before the locker. Sometimes Brute powers even went beyond that and made their wielders at the peak of human fitness, like with Triumph.

"How long until she wakes up?" Doctor Michaels asked.

"I put her to sleep when I finished clearing her system." Panacea replied, "She needs actual sleep right now, not coma sleep. She'll be awake at about midday tomorrow and she'll need a moderate helping of food. Not paste, not thin soup, actual food. I just hope the police find out who did this. To her…"

"I already know." Danny laughed hollowly.

"WHAT!?" both Michaels and Panacea exclaimed. In answer, Danny pulled a thick book out of a bag at his feet that neither hand noticed and held it up to them.

"Taylor recorded every day of bullying since September in this book, including printouts of the e-mails and itemised day-by-day accounts of what was done to her and by whom." He explained.

"Why haven't you handed it in to the police?!" Michaels half-asked, half-demanded.

"Because of who one of the girls responsible is and who her father is." Danny replied shortly, "Emma Barnes' father Alan is a lawyer and he can, and has in the past, threatened to sue anyone who 'slanders his daughter's good name.' I think he works for the same firm as Brandish."

"Allan Barnes…I don't _think_ Carol's mentioned him." Panacea said after a moment of thought.

"Then there's the fact that the teachers at Winslow seem to do their damnedest to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil as far as the bullying Taylor was under was concerned." Danny said with a furious scowl, "She tried to transfer to another school and they shredded her application form in front of her."

"That…that isn't normal." Panacea shook her head in disbelief. "I can ask my mother to come and talk to you about this if you want…?"

"Do you think that she'd do something or sweep it under the rug for someone in the same firm?"

Panacea bristled slightly. Yes, Carol Dallon treated her like a bomb ready to go off and yes, she resented that, but her professional conduct, as both a Hero and a lawyer wasn't to be questioned. "Mr Hebert, she will not do any such thing. Her professional integrity is impeccable and there is no blue wall of silence with lawyers. I can assure you that she will treat this with the seriousness it deserves."

"Sorry." Danny sighed, "I've not slept in about sixteen hours, so I asked a stupid question. Please…I want the people who did this to my daughter to pay. Not only for what they did to Taylor, but so no one else ends up like her."

The healer nodded. "I'll get the ball rolling with my mother. When she meets you…make sure you bring that diary. In the meantime…Doctor, you'd better get a Wards/Minor NDA to sign."

 _A Month Later_

 _Hebert Residence_

 _With Taylor_

It had been a month since Panacea had healed me. A month since I had discovered that I had powers.

And a month of Dad trying to persuade me to either join the Wards or not use my powers.

"Dad. Please, enough." I sighed, interrupting the nth attempt at pushing the Wards. "I am _not_ joining the Wards."

"I can understand that what that…hellion…has done to you has perhaps soured you to them…" Dad trailed off as I sent a flat, unimpressed look at him. Sophia Hess had been revealed to be Shadow Stalker, a Protectorate Ward, by Carol Dallon's crusade-like investigation. Evidently something about my case had offended her on a deep and personal level.

I hadn't been supposed to know about Sophia's identity. I had only found out when she went apeshit, escaped the PRT building and tried to kill me. That damned crossbow of hers almost killed me, and would have too, had I not have been practicing my powers at the time.

In addition to the brute strength, resilience and healing factor, which put me at the peak of fitness for my age, I also had the ability to Trump myself with three powersets a day. From what I gathered, the powers seemed to be based on the constellations. The skillset I had been testing at the time was that of Centaurus, the centaur. That set granted me supernatural speed, dexterity and the ability to leap to truly ridiculous heights, which was why I had been able to dodge the crossbow bolt that Sophia had shot at me.

I had channelled Corvus, the Raven, next and unleashed a sonic scream that had laid the shadow bitch low in pain from her burst eardrums. She had ripped her mask off in pain and I had been so, _so_ tempted to call on another of my powers to finish the job while she was helpless. Dorado, Sagitta, Canis Major…hell, most of the constellations that I could bring to mind could have been used to kill the bitch somehow.

And yet, I didn't. I had invoked my last powerset of the day, Auriga, the Charioteer, and created the projection of a bike, zooming off home to rage and cry. Apparently the Protectorate arrived a bare minute after I left, and had wondered who had defeated her.

The bitch spilled the beans as soon as Panacea had, begrudgingly, healed her ears. So now, I was being best by both my Dad and the PRT to join up. Fuck no. I was _not_ going to join the same team that that…unholy bitch from hell had been a part of.

"What else _is_ there, Taylor?" Dad almost begged me, "New Wave still has its unmasking policy, so that's out. And I am _not letting you_ be a lone hero!"

Something snapped in me at that. " _Letting_ me?"

The way Dad recoiled meant that I had a seriously ugly expression on my face. I didn't care.

" _Letting me?_ " I repeated heatedly, "After the last year and half of being treated like a _leper_ both in my own _house_ and at _fucking_ school, I am so beyond caring about what you think about what I should do!"

"Language!"

" **Shove it!** " I shouted, standing up and glaring at him. "You collapsed in on yourself when Mom died! You left _me_ to prop _you_ up even though I was feeling just as bad! I had to keep you fed and fucking _clothed properly_ when you couldn't give a shit about anything but feeling bad for yourself! When Emma started with her shit, I didn't tell you because _I knew that you couldn't fucking handle it!_ And now you want to _tell me what to do_ with _my own fucking power?!_ "

Emma, as it turned out, was suffering from being brainwashed by Sophia amidst the PTSD caused by a gang attack and was now receiving counselling from a professional who has experience with people who have been brainwashed by Capes. I was still on the fence about whether or not to attempt to mend the differences between us. Despite all of the shit she had put me through, I still loved her.

"Taylor…I…"

"Enough." I shook my head, "Just…enough. I'm not joining the Wards. If New Wave relaxes its maskless policy, I would consider them. Until then, I'm going to train. Because cents to dollars says that someone will try and force the issue, whether it's the PRT or one of the gangs."

With that said, I got up and left the room, leaving my father behind.

 **OK, so this is a LOT darker and more angst-ridden than I had initially thought it would be, but hey, when I write, the words flow from my fingertips. The idea behind this kinda-sorta comes from Lucy Heartfillia's Celestial Spirit magic from Fairy Tail, except a bit broader in scope than the Twelve Zodiac (technically thirteen with the snake bearer) that were the most powerful on the ordinary Celestial Spirits in that show. You could spin this as Taylor being an Eidolon-ite and tapping into a different set of Endbringers or whatever.**

 **In other news, Wildbow has started posting things on the Worm Wordpress site again. Just three PHO chapters, but all of them titled 'Glow Worm'. It's really intriguing for me to see if he'll bring Taylor back as a main character, or if he'll start with someone new. I hope for Taylor, as I have a lot of respect for the Queen of Escalation. We'll just have to see what happens.**

 **Brute: 3 (Is at the peak of human fitness. Can tank blows that would shatter bones with barely a scratch. Is stronger than she appears. Possesses a ridiculously strong immune system and has a healing factor.)**

 **Trump: 8 (Has the ability to grant powersets to herself three times a day. Can swap between the powersets at will. A 'Day' is counted as starting from midnight and lasting 24 hours from then. The powers are based off of the 88 Modern Constellations. See examples below.)**

 **Andromeda: Shaker 4 (Chains), Trump 5 (Power Negation Field).**

 **Centaurus: Mover 6 (Super Speed, Enhanced Dexterity, Super Leaping ability).**

 **Corvus: Changer 5 (Raven/Crow), Master 4 (Sensory Bond Creation), Stranger 3 (Shadow Camouflage), Blaster/Shaker 4 (Sonic Shriek).**

 **Dorado: Master 4 (Fish), Changer 3 (Sub-rating Striker 2, Arm Blade), Breaker 5 (Underwater Adaptation).**

 **Canis Major: Master 4 (Canids), Changer 4 (Canids).**

 **Sagitta: Shaker/Blaster/Trump 6 (Mass Arrow Generation, Trick Arrow Bestowal), Thinker 3 (Supernatural Enhanced Archery).**

 **Auriga: Master 6 (Vehicle Projections).**


	70. Appropriate Gravitas

Hovering in the sky above Brockton bay, the figure of Taylor Hebert looked down at the scene of Brockton Bay below her as it was engulfed in fire and war. The three big gangs, the Empire 88, the ABB and the Merchants had started fighting over a week ago when a new Nazi Cape going by the name Kristallnacht had entered the city and killed Kaiser and Hookwolf, effectively usurping control of the Nazi organisation.

He had then bluntly and to the point, declared war on the rest of the city, stating that any 'lesser races' would leave within the next two days or be 'purged' for the 'greater good of the racial purity of the Aryan race.' Any 'race traitors' would be put down if they attempted to interfere with the 'righteous crusade' of the Empire.

Naturally, Lung had responded by burning down one of the Empire's safe houses and badly wounding Victor and Cricket in the process. The message being that no one tells the Dragon of Kyushu what to do.

Skidmark had responded by gathering up any and all drug-addled addict he could get his hands on and launching an all-out assault on Empire territory, spearheaded by several of Squealer's vehicles, ranging between a heavily-modified dump truck that had a turret-mounted lightning canon wedged on top of the area where the garbage was usually held, and a behemoth-like monstrosity that was as wide as the roads that bristled with cannons, machine guns and all manner of other weaponry, both mundane and exotic.

Suffice is to say, collateral damage had been the word of the day.

The Bay had suffered five percent civilian casualties in the first two days of fighting. It may not have sounded like much, but when it's five percent of a city's entire population you were talking about, that still meant that the number was in the thousands.

The evacuation of the Bay had started with everyone rich enough, swiftly followed by everyone else who could leave. The rest…hunkered down, prayed to whatever deity they followed and hoped to wait out the storm.

Once every one that wanted to leave had left, the Governor had ringed the city and declared martial law, ceding control of Brockton Bay to the PRT and Protectorate for the interim of the crisis. No reinforcements had been forthcoming for the Protectorate ENE, but the Wards had been evacuated.

Director Piggot had brutally taken the reins and basically ordered New Wave to join the Protectorate temporarily. The unspoken 'or else' hadn't needed to be said. Even so, Lady Photon had refused, stating they would cooperate with the protectorate as they had done in the past without compromising their group's identity.

Piggot had _not_ been amused.

Still, there had been little she could do. Turning the Protectorate on New Wave at that juncture would have been wasteful and counterproductive. Instead, the obese woman had focussed on marshalling the forces available to her in one hand, whilst demanding backup from the PRT and main Protectorate with the other.

Taylor scowled down as her hometown burned. When the fighting had started, her Dad had been caught in the middle of it at the Dockworker's Association. He had been killed by Kristallnacht himself. When she had heard about it…she had had what she had thought was a fit, but had actually been her getting powers.

"Kristallnacht…!" she snarled, her rage warping space around her as her powers flexed. Forcing herself to calm down, Taylor grabbed her binoculars and peered through them, trying to find the target of her wrath. Unlike Kaiser, who had been charismatic, eloquent and charming, Kristallnacht led by iron fist and force of will. He led the attacks on the important targets not to stand and monologue, but as a way to show those beneath him exactly what would happen to them if they crossed him.

All she had to do was watch and wait for a big offensive by the Empire and she would find HIM without fail.

She panned over Arcadia, the PRT Building and several neighbourhoods before she finally found the one she was searching for. Kristallnacht was of average height and dressed in a heavily modified SS Officer's uniform, minus most of the fruit salad ribbons and ornamentation. An actual cape flowed over his shoulders, reaching down to his knees and bore the emblem of a death's head made of shattered pieces of glass. Clasped in one hand was an officer's parade stick. His blond hair was concealed by the cap and his blue eyes (they would be, stupid Nazi) were hidden behind a full-face mask fashioned to resemble the symbol on his cape.

He had the power to control and manipulate silicates, mostly glass. That he had taken the name of one of the earliest Nazi acts of terror against the Jewish population of Germany and turned it into his Cape name spoke a lot for how much of a diehard Nazi scumbag he was. Taylor had heard that the European Nazi Cape organisation Gesellschaft had denied that he was one of their Capes and, for once, she believed them.

That was neither here nor there, though. Kristallnacht was accompanied by Purity, Stormtiger, Othala, Crusader, and Rune. That was a lot of the Empire's strength in one place. Krieg, Night, Fog, Fenja and Menja had fled after Kaiser's death and Cricket was still out of commission. Victor was an unknown though.

Taylor threw aside the binoculars as she prepared to head down to engage the murderer of her father. She had made sure to get rid of anything on her body that was a silicate of any form, including her glasses. It was fortunate that getting her powers had corrected her vision somehow.

She was dressed in a fairly plain ensemble; jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie and a red scarf on her body, with her hair tied back in a severe plait, leaving her face covered by a full-face mask as well. It was plain and unadorned compared to Kristallnacht's, but that was how she liked it. It was white, with a neutron symbol painted in black on the centre of the forehead. A little misleading considering what her power actually was, but she liked doing that.

"Kristallnacht…the one to be broken this time around is you!" she snarled. With a shimmer of light, Taylor's body vanished from sight.

 _Later_

 _With Glory Girl_

"Fuck!" the blond teen cursed as she dodged another one of Crusader's ghosts. She, most of New Wave aside from Panacea and Shielder, and almost the entirety of the ENE Protectorate were facing off against that madman Kristallnacht's Empire, which was really making her nostalgic for Kaiser, something that she had thought impossible before this nutjob had shown up.

Armsmaster was holding off Rune, while Miss Militia and Velocity were holding Stormtiger back. She and Dauntless were dealing with Crusader, while Othala was skulking around Kristallnacht. Brandish, Manpower, Laserdream and Flashbang were holding off the unpowered members led by Victor, of all people, while Lady Photon was engaged in a duel with Purity.

They were winning…for the moment.

"I tire of this absurdity." Kristallnacht said, his heavy German accent making it sound like 'I tire of zis abzurdity.'

With an irritable wave of one hand, all of the glass in the area, aside from Armsmaster's armour and visor surprisingly enough, shattered into small triangles and swarming around him like an evil deranged cloud.

"Die." He said flatly, before flapping one gloved hand irritably. The cloud shot at the battling heroes like a swarm of silicate locusts. They all broke off from their fighting partners and retreated. Miss Militia used some sort of beam weapon to melt and destroy the glass encroaching on her, but there was too much for her to handle alone. Lady Photon interposed a forcefield around the heroes that blocked the hail of glass.

"Ja, ja, very impressive, mein Frau." Kristallnacht clapped sarcastically, "Let us see how strong your barriers _really_ are."

With another gesture of his hand, the glass shards rose into the sky and formed a series of giant drills that spun in the air and lanced down at the shield, grinding into it and making Lady Photon stagger slightly in order to keep her shield up.

"Aunt Sarah!" Glory Girl moved to support her, "You OK?"

"He's…strong." Lady Photon grunted, "He can obviously reinforce his glass to the strength of steel when he controls it, otherwise it would have shattered by now!"

The struggle continued for a minute or so long before the match was interrupted by someone flinging a car at Kristallnacht. He scrambled out of the way, letting up on Lady Photon as he did so.

"Who…?" Glory Girl looked around to try and locate their helper, but there was no sign of anyone.

"Who dares?!" the Nazi roared as he stood up again. His only answer was another car being flung at him from another direction. Purity blew it out of the sky with one blast.

"There!" Crusader pointed into the sky as a figure dressed in ordinary clothes, but wearing a scarf and mask, appeared floating in mid-air. Whoever it was, they were floating down slowly, arms crossed and staring straight at Kristallnacht.

"And you are?" the Nazi demanded.

"The person who's going to kill you." The floating Cape replied coldly. The icy tone of her voice made the hair on Glory Girl's neck stand up straight. "As for a Cape name…well, call me Gravitas."

"Bah, foolish _Amerikaner_." Kristallnacht snorted, "Purity, kill her."

Reluctantly, the glowing female figure rose into the air to confront Gravitas. With one hand, the second most powerful Blaster on the North American Continent unleashed a beam of pure white light at the floating girl. Glory Girl wanted to yell a warning, but there was no point; even Lady Photon's shields had a hard time with Purity's blasts, and the attack was too quick for a warning to do more than distract the girl.

Imagine the surprise of absolutely everyone watching when Purity's blast _bent around_ the girl a foot away from striking her, wrapping into a ring that was rotating…no, _orbiting_ around Gravitas like one of Saturn's rings.

Purity stopped her attack in shock at being no-selled against someone other than Lung or an Endbringer. Hell, everyone was surprised. Aside from gravitas herself.

"That was a powerful laser, Purity." Gravitas said calmly, "Thank you for the weapon."

Without so much as a gesture or an incline of the head, the ring of light from Purity's attack moved up and over her before shooting straight at Kristallnacht, who waved a hand and interposed his glass fragments, changing them into a thick wall. The two striking each other caused a large explosion, destroying over half of the Nazi Cape's fragments.

Gravitas watch coolly before a single word came from her.

"Sloppy."

"What did you say?!" Kristallnacht snarled.

"I called you sloppy." Gravitas answered calmly, "You rely far too much on arm and hand gestures to control your Vitreokinesis. It broadcasts your intent and is a sign of how little you have practiced your abilities."

"You…!"

"Do you think I just randomly decided to come and fight you today, Broken Glass?" the girl asked icily, "I've spent most of the last two weeks following you around invisibly, watching most of your fights to figure out your powers and weaknesses. I even employed a Thinker to confirm my conclusions for me."

The SS lookalike glared at her.

"First, you have two separate powers. One is what allows you to shatter anything made of glass or a large amount of silicates within a certain range, a hundred yards or so. Then you have the power that permits you to telekinetically control the shards and increase the base toughness of them." Gravitas stated, "One curious thing that I noticed is that you never use any glass that is already broken in your area. That means that your first power _marks_ the glass that it breaks, allowing your _second_ power to manipulate it. And any glass piece smaller than an A5 sheet of paper is unaffected by your first power. Meaning that in order to render you powerless, you simply have to be taken somewhere where there is no glass."

"Silence! I am Kristallnacht!" the man shouted, pointing his swagger stick at her. "And you are dead! Kill her!"

The last was an order to the Empire Capes, who moved to follow orders. Crusader had one of his copies lift him into the air as he readied his spear, Rune hovered on a manhole cover, two spheres orbiting around her. Purity raised both hands to fire an even more powerful blast at Gravitas, Stormtiger drew air to his claws and Othala touched Victor, granting him a power.

"We should help her!" Glory Girl growled, wanting to do something.

"We can't." Brandish shook her head, "We need to draw this out so that the PRT troopers can evacuate the neighbourhood fully. This Gravitas is drawing Kristallnacht's ire, so he'll focus on fighting her before returning his attention to us. It's cold, but we have to think about the people we are protecting before a girl who is throwing herself into the lion's den."

Then the Empire strike force launched all of their attacks towards Gravitas. Crusader sent ghosts charging forwards, Rune attacked with her spheres, Purity fired her most powerful blast yet, Stormtiger fired two large blasts of air and Victor used the power Othala granted him to launch a fireball. All of the attacks converged on Gravitas and, just like before, they all bent around her, orbiting around her a foot away in lazy circles.

"What the…I can't control my spheres!" Rune yelled.

"It must be because I have a more magnetic personality than you, Rune." Gravitas said, "Now stand aside. _For the moment_ , my business is with Kristallnacht and _only_ Kristallnacht. None of you can do a single thing to me, so stand aside or get hurt."

 **So this was another thing that caught my attention. Well, the power was. The Nazi guy just…came to me. Don't like Nazis; don't like their beliefs, so writing the Empire and any new characters therein is going to be HARD for me, because I genuinely hate them. Hope this was still an enjoyable read.**

 **No power chart this time because…well, I want to see if you can guess her power.**


	71. Rattling Bones

There had once been a villain in Brockton Bay known as Marquis. He led his Marquisate gang through charisma and strength in equal measure and he possessed the Parahuman power to create armour and weapons out of bones. He was taken down by the then-Brockton Bay Brigade, who used his defeat and imprisonment inside the Birdcage to launch the New Wave Movement. But that's neither here nor there.

I am Taylor Hebert. Like Marquis, I possess the power to create things using bones. Unlike him, I can create and control skeleton soldiers equipped with those weapons.

 _Warehouse, Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

I stared at the skeleton. The skeleton stared back at me, grinning in the way that only a skeleton could. It was a female skeleton, I knew. How I knew was beyond me, but it was just something I _knew_ about my creations. I could make any kind of skeleton, from baseline human, to dogs, to birds, to fish. Anything that had an endoskeleton, I could make a skeleton soldier.

Not only that, though. The birds could still fly. The fish could still swim. I wasn't sure how it worked, but I just shrugged and assigned it to the folder of 'weird parahuman bullshit that my power did that I didn't know what to make of' as I had done with the fact that all of my human skeletons were female, regardless of what I tried. Was it because I was female, or because I wasn't trying hard enough?

Dismissing it from my mind, I flipped a switch in my mind and the skeleton crumbled into the ground, gone. Only dust remained, much less than all the bones in the body should have left by rights.

Taking in a deep breath, I tried again. I pictured the skeleton of a human in my mind and then tried to make it male. What I got back was something similar to the mental equivalent of an 'error' sound on a computer. OK, so assuming that my power was copying the baseline structure of the human skeleton from me, I probably couldn't alter it even although I had spent hours memorising the subtle differences between the male and female skeletal structures. Darn.

Slightly frustrated at being blocked from what I viewed as a minor alteration, I moved on to my next experiment. I pictured ten skeletons and then slammed my palm onto the ground. Flowing from my flat hand was a pale liquid that split into ten puddles. Emerging from it were the skulls, then neck vertebrae and then the rest of the bones of a skeleton. All as solid as real bones. No weak parts to the bones as far as I could tell.

There again, considering that this town had a fire breathing dragon, a guy who could make metal blades pop out over any flat surface and a guy who could create a layered shield that could bounce back the bullet of an Anti-Material Sniper Rifle. Even a thousand ordinary skeletons would be useless against _that_ sort of power, especially if they were unarmed and unarmoured.

I sighed. Why was I bothering? No _way_ could I become a hero in the Bay with a power so similar to Marquis' own. New Wave would come after me like a bunch of rabid hounds for a kick-off.

Still, even if I wasn't going to use my powers to fight crime, I could at least get a proper handle on how to use them. Still with my hand on the ground, I envisioned the skeletons being covered in armour and carrying a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. More bone fluid wept from my hand and flowed over to the skeletons, creeping up their bodies and solidifying in the shape she had envisioned.

When the process was finished, my skeleton warriors were covered in bone-white plate armour and carrying shields and swords, exactly as I imagined. Could I do the same for myself, I wonder? A bit of concentration and a minute later, I was covered in the same bone plating as my skeletons. It moved easily and the sword was sharp enough to cut through a steel pipe I got two of my skeletons to hold between them.

A bit of experimentation showed me that the only limit to what I could create with my power was my imagination…so long as it was skeletons, armour, shields or weapons. I couldn't make anything that wasn't any of those categories. A bit of testing showed that, at the minimum, my created bones and bone-made items, were twice as strong as a basic human bone, and I could make them as strong as steel with a bit of concentration when I created them.

What was somewhat irritating though was that while making bone armour and weapons for myself was fairly easy and quick, it took a handful of minutes to create any humanoid skeletons. Heck, even making the skeleton of a _mouse_ took a minute.

Grimly, I practiced. And practiced. And practiced. And then, just for a change of pace, I practiced some more. Before I knew it, a month passed.

 _A Month Later_

Rumours on PHO had it that a gang of teenage villains, the Undersiders, had almost been killed by Lung last night after they robbed his casino. They had managed to get away, although some sources had it that at least one of them had been seriously burned by the Dragon of Kyushu.

It didn't really affect me anyway. I wasn't a hero or a villain. The best descriptor of me was a Rogue, someone who didn't use their powers to either fight crime or commit crimes. Most, like Parian, used their powers to earn money. The few who didn't use their powers at all were not look upon well by most Capes, who felt that having powers meant that you had to use them for some purpose or another.

I will admit, I have been feeling some…niggling urge to do something for a while now. It's been steadily growing stronger and I'm honestly not sure what it is. PHO has absolutely nothing to say, and I am not creating a false account to ask 'do your powers push you into doing stuff?'

Mostly because it sounds ridiculous.

I was heading back from my regular practice session when I spotted the monster dog things. There were three of them, with two figures mounted on one of them and a single figure on the other two.

Having only recently read the PHO explosion about them, I easily recognised the Undersiders; Grue, Regent, Tattletale and Bitch/Hellhound. Regent, the renfaire reject, was listing slightly on his monster dog, while Grue was keeping Tattletale steady with one arm.

I walked past them, ignoring the growls of the dogs. I was about a metre away when shouting in Japanese reached my ears from the side. Turning my head, I saw members of the ABB charging out of buildings, waving swords and guns.

I broke into a run and darted into an alley. The ABB ignored me; their target was the Undersiders. Given how exhausted and wounded they were, it seemed likely that they would be overwhelmed by the gangers.

…

Damn it.

Checking around to see if anyone was there or if any security cameras running, I covered myself in bone armour, including a shield and spear. Then I called forth thirty armed and armoured skeleton warriors, with a dozen skeletal hounds to act as hit-and-run support.

I held my breath for a moment before exhaling. Time to see what my soldiers could do.

 _With the Undersiders_

"Fuck." Tattletale said conversationally as she pulled her pistol out of its holster and pointed it at the approaching ABB. "Bitch? Can we move please?"

"They're tired!" the Canine Master barked angrily, "They haven't slept since last night."

"They'll get _put_ to sleep by these guys if we don't move it!" Grue growled, creating a bank of black fog that would temporarily disorient and confuse the approaching gangers.

Regent waved his hand spasmodically at the cloud and Grue, who could see through his own fog, could see that he had made several of the ABB hit each other. Those whom he had manipulated that way were lashing out at random, causing a chain reaction of random fighting inside the cloud of darkness.

It wouldn't last, he knew. There were too many ABB grunts and Regent was barely conscious from the pain of his burns. He wouldn't be able to do that again.

Then something happened. White-armoured soldiers spilled out of an alley, armed with swords and shields, and crashed unrelentingly into the ABB, who were taken off guard completely. Grue dispersed his fog and retreated to the rest of his team, who gaped in astonishment at the unexpected help.

Tattletale's power worked overtime as she observed the frantic attempts of the ABB to fend off the soldiers. ' _Projections. Armour and weapons made of bone. Bone as strong as steel. Encasing…skeletons? Cape who created them is Master/Shaker._ '

The Thinker's eyes were drawn to one figure in particular at the back, who was the only one armed with a spear. That one seemed to be directing the soldiers. She wasn't the only one who noticed, as five ABB thugs tried to get to the figure. With loud barks, five _dog_ skeletons leapt on them, signalling the arrival of seven more skeletal hounds that harassed and took down stranded members of the ABB.

' _Doesn't want to be here. Doesn't want to expose her power._ ' Tattletale's Thinker fed her as she stared at the probable creator of the skeletal army. ' _Is moving for our sake. Doesn't want us to die. Terrified of being hunted down by New Wave for having similar power to Marquis. Dislikes the idea of being branded a villain because of what her power does. Has avoided using her power for anything but training for over a month._ '

That last part blew her mind. Powers almost demanded to be used; no one she knew could avoid using them for more than a week, and even training could only curb the urge slightly, extending that to perhaps two weeks. Whoever this was had to have a tremendous amount of willpower in order to suppress her power's urges to be used for twice the length of time most Capes could manage. Tinkers had it bad, in that department. They could barely go an entire day without Tinkering.

Eventually, the ABB had had enough. Dropping their weapons and abandoning their downed comrades, they fled back the way they had come.

The figure raised their hand and clicked their fingers once, causing the skeletal army to dissolve into a cloud of dust, dogs included. When the cloud dispersed, the figure was gone.

"Let's go." Grue said, "Whoever that was, we have to get Regent to the Boss' doctor. Those are some bad burns."

Tattletale nodded distractedly as Brutus raced forwards. She had the funny feeling that they'd meet the controller of those skeletons sooner rather than later. Especially if the Boss, that bastard Coil, had anything to say about it.

 **So this came from me wondering how a bone-creator would look like if they had a similar power to Rudbornn Chelute's Zanpakutō, Arbol's power from Bleach, or at least a reasonable facsimile. The backstory here, as to why Taylor is so terrified of New Wave, is that Brandish hyper-reacts to anyone or anything similar to Marquis, and thus the man who made her and her sister Trigger. She has hunted down and intimidated any Osteokinetic who has graced Brockton Bay since Marquis, whether they be Hero, Villain or Rogue, and either arrested them or 'persuaded' them into leaving. What? Where was it you thought Vicky got it from? Not Flashbang, I'll tell you that much.**

 **Oh and regarding the last chapter? The power review for that will be in the second chapter of that ficlet.**

 **Shaker/Master: 7 (Is able to create and control bones. Can create entire skeletons, whether they be fish, fowl or mammalian. Anything with an endoskeleton, basically. Can increase the strength, density and other characteristics of the bones up to the strength of steel. Can also create weapons and armour from bone, although that is limited to just those categories.)**

 **Thinker: 2 (is able to sense the condition of any and all bones within her line of sight, regardless of whether they are in or out of bodies, as well as any bones she creates herself within a two block radius.)**


	72. Ten-Thousand Ribbons

_Abandoned Warehouse, Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

Looking at the mask on the table in front of me, I had to wonder what the heck I was thinking about. The power I had gained was, by all accounts, weak. The ability to control ribbons…Jesus _Christ_.

' _You go through hell in a locker full of filth for hours and end up with a low-tier power like this…_ ' I thought bitterly. ' _If there is a god, he's using me as comedy material._ '

Upon gaining my power (and after getting out of hospital) I had experimented with it. I could manipulate any kind of ribbon whether they be fabric or plastic. I could also _create_ ribbons that I was familiar with. All of that includes bandages as well, for some reason.

Ok, so my power was broad. I could make the ribbons as strong as steel and selectively make the edges as sharp as a finely honed sword. I could trap people in cocoons, wrap them up like mummies and even form them into massive limbs to smash through solid concrete. I hadn't tested it yet, but I was willing to bet that I could make wings with ribbons to fly with.

And yet…my power had felt…incomplete, somehow. I had also found that I could merge my ribbons into an outfit for me to wear. I could make it look like anything I wanted, but it seemed to like a _maid outfit_ for some reason and defaulted to it. Urgh.

I had also used my powers to make the mask before me, but unlike with my outfit, that I could scatter into ribbons and hide quite easily, I could only revert the mask into a single ribbon that somehow kept turning up wherever I went.

It _had_ been funny to watch the frustration on The Bitch Trio's faces as I kept coming back to school with a ribbon that was seemingly exactly like the one they had 'stolen' and destroyed though.

The mask was primarily while, with thick red lines splashed across it. The eyes are outlined in gold and there's a yellow diamond-shape in the centre of the forehead that looks remarkably like an Indian _bindi_. The eyes were ultramarine blue and were somehow transparent when I wore it but were opaque when I looked at it from the other side.

Powers are weird.

When I had finished the mask, my powers had felt…completed, somehow, which confused the hell out of me. How could a power be satisfied? How could it feel incomplete? How could it _feel_ point blank?

Putting that question to the back of my mind, I returned my regard to the mask. If I put it on while I was wearing my combat outfit, a faux-leather ensemble, I was committing to being a hero. To fighting crime.

I remembered the sneers and put downs of almost every person at Winslow. The humiliation and despair I felt every single day. I couldn't take much more without some reason to keep going, something that couldn't be stolen from me by the Trio.

Resolve firmed, I traced the mask's surface with one hand before picking it up, turning it around and placing it on my face. I generated ribbons that formed something of a helmet around the rest of my head and made them as hard as steel on the outermost three layers, while as soft as cotton on the inside.

Looking at the mirror that was set above the table, I straightened my pine. "Well then…let's go."

 _Later_

 _Docks, Brockton Bay_

Ask anyone you care to in the Bay and they will tell you that the most contested areas of the city are the Docks areas, aside from the Boat Graveyard. Despite the fact that the Protectorate Base, The Rig, sits out in the centre of the bay, the Docks area has lots of empty warehouses, unused since the collapse of most of the world's shipping trade due to the Endbringer Leviathan. These could be repurposed for all sorts of illegal purposes.

It was also the reason why patrolling the Docks area was one good way to definitely find crimes in progress. From Merchants hawking their addictive and destructive wares on street corners, to Empire skinheads trying to beat up anyone who didn't conform to their stupid creed, to the ABB trying to kidnap women for the brothels that they ran.

Yep. This was Brockton Bay, my home. At least, what it's become in the last decade or so. Things weren't always this bad, but with Leviathan screwing with the oceans and Ziz screwing up any flights that went too high (some of the time), the urge to travel was almost gone and the need to ship goods had fallen, resulting in the gradual decline of Brockton Bay, pa decline aided by the fall of Allfather, the last head of the Empire, the Caging of Marquis and the arrival of Lung and the pan-Asian ABB.

I stood on a rooftop, looking down at some Empire grunts making plans to raid a nearby house that held a Jewish family. These parasites were _killing_ my city. I had to deal with them.

That being said, I would have to be careful. The PRT took dim views of lone Vigilante heroes exceeding their authority. If they were a part of a registered PRT Affiliated team, they had more freedom, but most of the time, we lone heroes were restricted to stopping a crime in progress. If we acted pre-emptively, the PRT used it an as excuse to try and strong-arm the vigilante in question into the Protectorate or the Wards, depending on their age.

I would _not_ put up with more teen drama than I had to. Winslow every weekday was bad enough. I couldn't imagine how screwed up teen drama could be with _powers_ thrown into the mix. I had no desire to find out. And so, I would have to stalk these morons until they actually launched their attack on the house.

Stealthily, I followed the gang of skinheads from the rooftops as they moved along and girded their loins to actually launch their attack. I snorted quietly. Like any group of bullies, they were cowards and weaklings, even in a group, and actually doing anything required them to steel their nerves and build up a mob-like attitude so they were unconcerned with what they were actually doing. That actually worked in my favour, however.

A person was smart, people are stupid. And no group of people are stupider than a group that falls into the rabble-rousing attitude of a mob. When they were lost to their senses and making their first couple of moves on the house, I'd strike.

My heart sank as I spotted Cricket, one of the Empire's Capes, joining them for a moment, but she only staid a moment, getting into a nearby car and speeding off with who looked like Alabaster. I was _very much_ relieved that they hadn't chosen to stay. Both of them were ruthless fighters who had large body counts attributed to them and I had no wish to fight either of them separately or both of them together until I had more experience under my belt.

Using ribbons with the same strength as professional climbing rope to cross to the next rooftop, I scoffed at the group beneath me. They never looked up on the odd occasions that they looked around. Even although there was a family full of flying Capes in the city, they never thought to look up. Idiots.

Reflexively, I looked around (and up) to double check that no one was pulling that on me. Thankfully, I was safe. The number of unfriendly fliers in the Bay was limited to a handful of Capes; Purity from the Empire was one, with Stormtiger being another. Technically anyway. Rune could fly on stuff using her telekinesis. Crusader's ghosts could fly. That was it though.

At last, the skinheads had riled themselves up to actually get on with it. They swaggered down the street to the house in question and started posturing. I silently glided on wings of ribbon to the top of a nearby streetlight and waited.

I hated watching them break down the door of the house, but it had nothing on the family being dragged out, a father, mother and two daughters. When they started kicking the family, with the parents protecting their daughters with their own bodies, I had had _enough_.

Spawning a hundred large ribbons, I sent them flying down to wrap around the bodies and limbs of the skinheads, binding them where they stood. Cries of surprise were muffled as I gagged them as well. To add insult to injury, the ribbons all had the Star of David on them.

"Y…you saved us! Thank you!" the mother babbled as I landed on the ground.

"I'm only sorry that I didn't arrive sooner." I said, not willing to tell them that I had been here from the start. Dishonest, but hey. "How are your injuries?"

"Eh, a few kicks to the stomach aren't going to do much to me." The father shrugged, with a hint of Russian in his voice, "I'm an ex-boxer. How are you, dear?"

"A bit…sore." His wife said with a wince.

"You'd better get checked out at a hospital after this." I advised, "Call the police and the PRT to collect these…scumbags."

"Dear, take the girls inside and pack some essentials." The man told his wife, "We'll have to stay elsewhere until we can get the door fixed."

Before they went inside, the two girls, pretty black-haired little things with warm brown eyes, came up and stammered their thanks to me for saving their mommy and daddy.

"Hey, no problem." I said with a nod. Kneeling down, I pulled a pair of ribbons from out of nowhere, "What're your favourite colours?"

"B…blue?"

"Red."

I turned one red and one blue and handed them to the girls. "Have a present. Don't tell the PRT where you got these or they'll try to confiscate them."

A pair of firm nods were sent my way before they were hustled into the house.

"Making ribbons. Wouldn't have thought that would be an effective combat power." The man remarked, "Anyway, the name's Sergei Estrin. What's your Cape name?"

I smiled to myself. "I hadn't actually thought of one. A bit silly to make a costume and not think of a name. Call me…yes…call me Tiamat, the Crown and Sash of Fantasies and Dreams."

"Nice name." Sergei nodded, "You were here before they started, weren't you."

Evidently my surprise was visible, as the man nodded. "Thought so. I understand why though. You're a vigilante, right? That means that you can only stop crimes in progress without the PRT getting on your back."

"I…I am sorry your family had to go through that." I said in a subdued tone.

" _Njet_." The ex-boxer said firmly, "You have legal limits that you have to abide by in order to stay independent, da? It cannot be helped. Next time though, stop them when they are dragging the family out though."

"I promise." I said instantly.

"Good. Now, Tiamat, you should be off." Sergei said with a smile, "There are undoubtedly more people who need your help in the Bay tonight."

"Thank you, Mr Estrin." I nodded, "Good luck."

"You saved my family, Tiamat. Just call me Sergei." The man chuckled. "And good luck to you as well."

With that, I launched myself into the air and used my ribbons to spring to the top of the streetlight and then into the night.

 _Later_

 _Director's Office, PRT Building_

"So then…what do we have?" Director Piggot said, lacing her hands together on the desk in front of her."

"We have a new vigilante Cape in the Bay." Miss Militia reported, "She goes by the name of Tiamat, the 'Crown and Sash of Fantasies and Dreams' as she called herself to the first family she saved tonight."

"Where did she pick _that_ name from?" Piggot muttered.

"Tiamat is the Primordial/Chaotic Deity of the Ocean in Babylonian Mythology." Armsmaster said gruffly, "She is referred to as the 'Glistening One' and is often portrayed as a dragon or a sea serpent. She supposedly created life through a sacred marriage with Abzu, the Primordial Deity of Fresh Water."

Taking that in her stride, Piggot focussed again. "Right. So what has she done?"

"She has apparently only been active for a single night and she has stopped a family of Jewish Russians from being brutalised by Empire thugs, captured several ABB grunts robbing an electronics store and saved a teenage girl who was in the middle of being kidnapped by a trio of Merchants." Miss Militia recited, "In each case, she was at the scene beforehand and waited until it was beyond reasonable doubt that the perpetrators were committing a crime before intervening."

' _Translation: nothing we can use to get the girl into the Wards._ ' Emily thought sourly. It was irritating when the fresh Capes in the city were actually smart enough to look up the Vigilante Limitation Law put in place a decade ago.

Emily Piggot did _not_ like Capes. She did not _trust_ Capes. Miss Militia was the closest to liking a Cape since the Elisburg Debacle, more commonly known as either the Fall of Elisburg or the Rise of the Goblin King. In her opinion, all so-called heroic Capes needed to be under the strict supervision of the PRT as members of the Protectorate. It was why she had ruthlessly forced Shadow Stalker into the Wards the moment the bloodthirsty fool had stepped over the line.

"So what powers has she displayed." She continued after a beat.

"Ribbon generation and control." Armsmaster stated.

Emily paused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She can create and control ribbons, Director." Miss Militia said clearly, "Armsmaster had to cut the Empire thugs out of the ribbon…cocoons…they were trapped in. The same applied for the ABB and Merchants Tiamat apprehended. The ribbons were as strong as rope, at the very least, despite keeping the same thickness and flexibility as any other ribbon."

"The ribbons are a mix of organic and synthetic fabrics, with some plastic thrown in for good measure." Armsmaster added, "One member of the ABB also tried to shoot her, with the gun being crushed after she ripped it from his hands. She seems to have very precise control of the ribbons she generates, and she, according to Dragon, has a…sense of irony. The ribbons binding the Empire thugs were marked with the Star of David in yellow."

Piggot blinked in disbelief. That would make the Empire _furious_ when they heard it. Deliberately mocking them, they'd see it as. Which it was, to be fair.

"Ratings?" she asked simply.

"A Blaster rating, I would say." Miss Militia offered, "While she can create a lot of ribbons, they all come from her, either her hands or her mask. Say, Blaster 4 or 5, with a sub-rating of Shaker 3 for manipulating beyond just firing them once they're in existence."

"A Mover Rating is apropos as well." Armsmaster added, "She has been witnessed using the ribbons as a mode of transportation at least twice. The almost kidnap victim reported that Tiamat glided down on wings before dissolving them into ribbons to attack the Merchants. Additionally, several cameras spotted her travelling over the rooftops using the ribbons as extra legs. Mover 3-4, I'd say."

"Very well." She said, not seeing anything amiss with the way the two had laid out their reasoning. "Let all members of the Protectorate and Wards know that they are to engage in conversation with this…Tiamat if they come across her and to invite her to the Wards or Protectorate depending on their age. Emphasise the good things about the Protectorate; the training facilities, the pay, the safety in numbers, the works."

"Noted." Armsmaster said, "And if she refuses?"

"Find out why." Piggot ordered, "Try to convince her. If she still refuses, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

 **So this is, as you may have recognised, based off of Wilhelmina Carmel, the Specialist of Everything/Manipulator of Ten-Thousand Ribbons from Shakugan no Shana. I could have gone with Margery Daw or Tenmoku Ikko, but I like Wilhelmina, so I chose her. No power table this time, as Armsmaster and Miss Militia hit the highlights. Happy Halloween!**


	73. Tripping Up

When you think of powers, you think of lasers and hulking brutes, of flashy and obvious powers. It stands to reason, doesn't it? Powers like Lady Photon's or Miss Militia's

My power…yeah, let's just say that it isn't like that.

 _December 15_ _th_ _, 2010_

 _Winslow Highschool_

My story begins, as most do on Earth Bet, with violence. Leviathan showed up out of nowhere, completely out of whack with the system that the PRT had worked out for the attacks that the Endbringers carried out. There was no warning; no time to run. One minute, I was enduring the usual bullshit from the Bitch Trio, the next I was waking up in a hollow made of rebar, concrete, fallen lockers and dead bodies, with several soaking wet and terrified students, including Emma, one of the Three Bitches, around me.

On the upside, Sophia and Madison were gone. Dead or missing, I didn't give a hoot.

On the downside, I still had to deal with Emma. Oh well.

I made my way out of the wreck that was Winslow Highschool, dodging falling masonry and crumbling walls as if I had a sixth sense of where not to step. The assorted girls and boys followed me like lost lambs, which was ironic considering they had considered themselves oh-so superior to me just…how long ago was it? My watch had smashed and there were still clouds covering the sky from Leviathan's presence.

Once we were out, I turned to see the group that had followed me. "Anyone still have your cell phone?"

Four of them, including Emma, raised their hands.

"Call your parents and find out if they're OK." I told them, "Then give them to the rest so they can find out."

"What about you?" one person questioned.

"My Mom is dead and Dad works… _worked_ at the Dockworker's Union." I answered quietly, "Their office _was_ right on the edge of the Docks…where Leviathan came from. He's…he's almost certainly dead."

Don't break. Don't cry. Don't let them see you hurting. Don't give them the satisfaction.

"Oh…" the boy looked stricken, "S-Sorry…"

I shook my head and looked around. The school was a total write off. Most of it had been smashed flat, with just the section we'd been in still anything approaching intact. The buildings around the school ground were pretty much totalled as well. Had Leviathan physically walked through this area?

Seeing some honking great footprints nearby, the answer was decidedly yes.

A few minutes later, Alan Barnes' expensive car screeched into the parking lot and the man himself threw himself out of the vehicle to crush Emma in a bear hug. I smirked at her slightly mortified expression.

"Emma! Thank god!" Alan yelled.

"Daaaaad!" my tormentor whined.

"I think he has a right to be worried, Emma." I put in sweetly, "Considering Leviathan walked by here himself."

"Taylor?" Mr Barnes looked over at me, "You're alive too!"

"Just lucky." I shrugged, "What time is it? Last I checked it was just after lunch and then I'm waking up in rubble."

"Leviathan was here _yesterday_ , Taylor." Mr Barnes said carefully.

My eyes bugged out of my head, with the rest of the survivors not a moment behind me. "I was knocked out for _over a day_?!"

" _We_ were." One girl I didn't recognise corrected me, "I was the first to wake up and that was no more than an hour ago."

"Holy shit." I said, Emma nodding in dumb agreement with me. "How the hell…?"

"No clue." Mr Barnes shook his head. "A trip to the hospital might be in order…once all this quietens down."

I looked out at the city and doubted it would be quiet in Brockton Bay for quite some time. Looking at Alan Barnes, I asked the one question that had been burning in my mind since I saw him.

"Mr Barnes…my Dad…is he…?"

Alan shook his head. "He's alive, Taylor. He was in a meeting with the mayor at the time, and most of the Dockworkers were at the train yard when Leviathan struck."

I felt myself go limp with relief. He was alive. My Dad was still alive. Thank god.

I shook myself out of my stupor. "Thank you." I said softly.

"No problems." Alan smiled, "Now, what say we get you home? Danny's gone out of his mind with worry since yesterday…not that I was much better."

He had kept hugging Emma the entire time and she was wriggling in order to try and escape his grip.

"Having fun, Emma?" I asked with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up, Taylor!" the redheaded pain in my ass huffed.

 _A Week Later_

The last week as been…hectic, to say the least. Leviathan had taken the entire world off guard with his second attack in two months, which had sent Thinkers the world over into a tizzy. In the meantime donations had been sent in to help get the Bay back on its feet.

Surprisingly enough, Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, had been instrumental in driving off the beast that destroyed Kyushu. He had evidently taken the attack of Leviathan personally and had ramped up to the size of the monster in seconds of engaging in combat with him. The tussle between them had apparently been epic, if brief, and Lung had thrown the second oldest Endbringer out of the Bay, stormed after him and then _really_ gone to town on the bastard. Enough so that Leviathan had retreated after five minutes of it.

Everyone now knew: do not fuck with Lung. Because he is LUNG.

Why they underestimated him before, I have no clue. He is the only Parahuman on the planet to have successfully faced down an Endbringer on anything like an even keel before and walked away from it. Underestimating someone like that, even after years of indolence, was nothing if not foolhardy.

One of the good things to come from the basic levelling of a good half of Brockton Bay, including Winslow, was that Sophia Hess was confirmed to be dead. She had been electrocuted about a block from Winslow by a falling power cable. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Madison was, surprisingly enough, still alive. She had had a length of metal through one leg and was in the hospital. As for Emma…

Well, I was in her bedroom right now. Dad was talking with Alan about something and he'd brought me to see my 'best friend' while the adults were talking.

She was sitting on her bed, legs and arms crossed stiffly and pointedly not looking in my direction. I was leaning against the door with my arms crossed. After ten solid minutes of this, I had had enough.

"Emma, this is getting stupid." I sighed, "I want the truth. Why have you been doing all of this crap to me and what did Sophia have to do with it?"

Looking unnerved because of my directness, Emma stammered out, "I-I don't know…what you're talking about."

"Bull. Shit." I said flatly, making her jerk in surprise. I usually don't swear unless I'm emotional, which she well knew, so she could tell that I was being serious right now. "I go away to Summer Camp, call you and get cut-off halfway through talking to you and the next thing I know when I get back, you're all over Hess like a love-struck lesbian and spouting the same strong are predators, weak are prey bullcrap that she spouted. It does not take a genius to join the dots. Now I'll ask nicely one last time…what. The Fuck. Happened to you?"

I had walked as I spoke, until I towered in front of her. Emma wasn't _short_ , exactly. Rather, I was just a fairly tall girl. In times like this, being tall was something of an advantage. It gives an intimidation factor.

Looking up at me, Emma gulped but refused to say anything.

With a light push of my hand, I sent her sprawling on the bed before I straddled her waist and pinned her hands to either side of her head. She feebly struggled, but not seriously. She knew I wasn't going to budge until she spoke up.

"Hess is dead." I told her softly, "If she was threatening you or your family, you don't have to worry about that anymore."

That, for some reason, made Emma laugh, in a slightly unhinged way. "You've got it all wrong, Tay…she _saved_ my life. Dad's too." She said once she calmed down a bit.

She then told me the whole story. How she had been attacked by members of the ABB, how she had fought back and been saved by Shadow Stalker…by _Sophia Hess_. Most of all, how she had latched onto Sophia as a lifeline following almost getting her eye cut out by the sadistic gang members. How she had taken Sophia's stupid survival of the fittest philosophy and had tried to 'purge her weak past,' including me.

"Emma…you _idiot_." I said slowly and in disbelief, "She fucking _brainwashed_ you. She messed with your mind and brought you down to her level…almost."

"Sh-she didn't…!" my possibly still-friend protested, "Whu-what do you mean 'almost'?"

"Then why haven't you thrown out any of the things I've given you over the years?" I said, nodding at the cuddly animals lined up next to the window. I had also spotted several friendship bracelets and other handmade knickknack jewellery that I'd made for her over the years on her vanity table. "You know what _I think_? I think that, no matter _how_ much you said wanted to cut me off, excise me, or whatever the hell she had you thinking, you just couldn't bring yourself to do it. You've known me and I've known you for so long that the good memories have to outweigh the bad. They were a source of strength for you. What were you thinking when you fought back against the ABB?"

"I…" Emma hesitated, "I…didn't want to die, I…I wanted to…see you again..!"

With that, she started to cry. Finally, she allowed herself to break down, to let the sorrow and anguish she had forced down since that incident over a year ago free.

I got off her and cuddled her as she cried. Admitting that had been hard, I knew. But at least she was finally bleeding off the stress, anger and hate that had been filling her up like poison. Now she could begin to heal.

 _A Week Later_

In the week that had followed on from Emma's admission of why she had been a Grade-A bitch to me for most of a year, things had changed between us yet again. Too much had passed between us for us to recapture the childhood friendship that we had once shared, yet, with the death of the one who had caused us to be at each other's throats in the first place, things had started to heal between us.

I didn't know if things between us would ever be as they were before. I didn't know if they could. Emma had, regardless of how or why, done some awful things to me and that could never be undone.

What made things between us better was something we had both been hiding from one another; the fact that both of us had gained Parahuman powers. Emma, irritatingly enough, had gained the ability to create what she called 'shadow golems' from darkness that poured from her hands. None of them could be larger than she was, but with a bit of imagination (and my help) she had a positive posse to draw upon in a pinch.

Me? I gained the ability to make traps appear. No, you did not mishear me. I make traps appear. With a bit of testing, I found out that my limit was four blocks in all directions. Yes, even up or down.

The traps could be made of physical things or a mental trap, which kind of worried me. Master-class Capes were looked upon with suspicion and distaste by most people. Thanks a lot Heartbreaker.

The physical traps, once Emma and I made one out of nowhere and pulled it apart, were greatly dependent on what I wanted. If I wanted a way to make people slip, it might give me a device that made the surface above it frictionless. There again, it might choose the good-old-fashioned oil slick route. One time it even generated a _banana peel_.

I rapidly came to the conclusion that my power was a snarky bastard.

As I said, my power could make any kind of trap I could imagine, and plant it wherever I wanted within my radius of effect. Exploring this, I discovered that I got some kind of crude 3-D mental map of the radius that I had, with glowing points indicating the traps I had set up. I could also dismiss my traps on a whim, so long as they were within my range, and they automatically dismissed themselves once their effect was used up.

The exceptions were the capture traps. Cages, snares, pits…that sort of thing. Only once the trapped person was released could they be dismissed. A safety feature, at a guess.

I also had lethal traps. Lasers, Masers, Grasers, arrows, poison gas…you name it, I could make it. It made me go pale when I realised I could turn four blocks into a literal death-trap zone.

My 3-D map also showed me where any and all traps set up were, even ones I didn't make. It was how I had escaped Winslow, avoiding the possible cave-in scenarios by treating the place as one giant trapped location, albeit subconsciously.

I had trapped the area around our house, as well as Emma's place, as the gangs, the parts of them that were left over, were starting to fight over the scraps again, although it was interesting to note that they did not rip off the Red Cross convoys and deliveries. Or even the warehouses that were used to store the relief goods. Looks like even the gangs knew better than to bite the hand that feeds them.

Speaking of, the gangs had been hit hard. Lung, obviously, was OK, but Oni Lee was dead. Killed in his sleep. His own fault for sleeping during the day, if you ask me. Victor, Rune and Cricket of the Empire were dead, as was Mush of the Merchants. Coil, a two-bit villain by all accounts, had been squashed by Leviathan after the Endbringer smashed his hidden base to pieces. The entire gang of villains known as the Travellers were also dead, aside from Sundancer, who had joined Faultline's Crew to replace Gregor the Snail, who had been the Crew's only casualty.

Because of the state of the Bay, there had been signs of old enemies showing up. The Teeth, led by Butcher XIV, had shown up, swiftly followed by Accord's Ambassadors. The city was going to go down a bloodier path than ever before it got better.

A good thing two new heroes were going to take to the streets soon. Shadowmancer and Ensare were going to change things.

 **Unlike a few of my other ficlets, this isn't really based on any character or whatever. I just figured, hell, wouldn't it be interesting to take a power than seems rear-echelon and turn it into a front-line power? Especially with the Queen of Escalation at the helm. Some might argue that she earns a Tinker rating here, but I disagree. She doesn't make them herself by hand; she imagines an outcome and her power creates something to accomplish it. Yes, even a lowly banana peel.**

 **A lot of people don't like Emma-redemption fics, but I do. At least, ones where it happens before The Locker. Afterwards, no way in hell. Before that though, there is a chance. Say what you like, I do like redeeming people that deserve it.**

 **Shaker: 8 (Possesses the ability to create, control and dismiss traps within a four block radius. The technology varies from basic snares, tripwires and pits to lasers, teleportation grids and electric cages. The creation is instantaneous and they can be placed anywhere within the radius of her control. The traps do not vanish once they leave the radius of her control, but follow the activation criterion given to them, whether that is pressure-plate, tripwire or what have you.)**

 **Thinker: 5 (Possesses the ability to sense any and all traps inside of her radius of control, whether they are her own traps or someone else's. Even natural traps or accidently created manmade traps count. Ambushes by ordinary humans or Capes do not register, however.)**


	74. Force Your Way

_Unknown Location_

I walked.

The area around me was covered in darkness; with only the path I was on illuminated. I could see the dim silhouettes of trees, crude huts and temples to my sides, but nothing but cloying darkness behind me.

So I walked on.

Pain was in my last memory. A feeling of being trapped, of helplessness, of utter rage that I was being treated like I was. I had done _nothing_ to deserve it! I was _innocent_! Why?!

Still, I walked on.

Flashes of sneering faces flashed through my mind, of indifferent faces, but not a single sympathetic face, or the face of someone trying to help. I was alone, beset by those who wished me harm. Of those faces, three stood out: the Bitch Who Betrayed Me, The Tag-Along Bitch and the Bitch Who Made It All Happen. Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, Sophia Hess. The three people I _despised_ with all of my being.

Yet still, I walked on.

New shapes appeared before me. An altar of some sort, with a banner behind it bearing a circle with the Greek letter **Λ** (Lambda) inside of it. Embedded in the altar were two blades. They were short swords, almost like axes actually, each almost a foot and a half long and half a foot across, with them being at least two to two and a half inches thick. Even looking at them, I could feel the power that they bore.

Walking closer, I could see words carved in Ancient Greek into the face of the altar. I could somehow read it, though.

 **FORGED FROM THE SHATTERED REMNANTS OF THE BLADES OF EXILE, THESE ARE THE VENGER BLADES.**

 **WHEN ALL AROUND BETRAY YOU, WHEN YOUR ANGER AND HATE FOR THOSE WHO BETRAY YOU REACH YOUR PEAK, THESE BLADES SHALL COMETO YOU.**

 **ONLY THE WORTHY MAY DRAW THEM. ALL OTHERS ARE DUST IN THE WIND.**

I had the funny feeling that it wasn't speaking figuratively. Looking closely at the altar, I could see ash or dust coating its surface…the remains of those who had tried and failed, I presumed. Bearing in mind I was here without any way of leaving, the implication was obvious; whatever entity that controlled this plane, thought that I could possibly wield the Venger Blades and had brought me here.

I laughed. Even if I _was_ destroyed, there was little left for me on Earth Bet. I was the pariah of my school and my Dad was so busy mourning my mother that I may as well not exist. Live or die, it was meaningless to me.

And so, with nary a thought, I grasped the two blades.

Which then burned like acid. I instinctively tried to let go, but my hands were evidently under new management.

I could see an aura surrounding them. Once that aura was completely surrounding both me and the blades, I would die. That I knew without a shred of doubt.

HATE.

A voice, rough, deep, male, spoke into my mind. What?

HATE, RAGE, FEEL THE NEED FOR VENGENCE AND RELEASE THOSE FEELINGS INTO THE BLADES. THAT IS WHAT WILL SAVE YOU.

"Is that all?" I chuckled humorously as the aura started to engulf my elbows, "You could have _**just said so!**_ "

I unleashed a year and a half's worth of bottled-up anger, rage, fury and hatred into the Venger Blades. I also added in my freshly awoken desire for revenge, for justice, for retribution against those who had shoved me into that fucking locker!

I let out a scream as the Blades heated up before finally, I pulled them from the altar. Flipping them up the right way in my hands, I screamed again as red-hot chains wrapped around my forearms. Such was the agony that I blacked out.

( _The_ [Queen Administrator] _Shard had no eyes. It was a Shard, obviously it had no eyes. But if it had had eyes, it would be staring suspiciously at the floating amorphous blob that was approaching it. It had tried to initiate binding with its host, only to be forestalled by this…thing._

 **[Query: Purpose?]** _It sent at the blob._

 **[Destination.]** _The Blob answered,_ [ **Purpose: Empowerment. Purpose: Merging]**

 _This confused the_ [Queen Administrator] _to a large degree. It knew every single Shard used by both of the entities known as Zion and Eden and this…oddity…was not from_ either _._

 **[Origin?]**

 **[Entities. Ancient. Former.]**

 _The method of communication that the_ [Queen Administrator] _and the Entities used condensed words, sentences, paragraphs and even entire libraries into a single word. With those three words, the blob communicated an abridged history of its origins and the Entities it once served, along with their end._

 **[Impossibility.]** _The Shard stated._

 **[Fact.]** _The Blob retorted._ **[Merger Imminent. Host Trial Completed.]**

 _Feeling out its intended host, the_ [Queen Administrator] _somehow scowled without having a face. The Blob had…entwined itself into its host, meaning that merging with the foreign Shard-like thing was the only choice to make if it continued._

 **[Repetition: Query: Purpose?]** _It sent to the Blob,_ demanding _an answer._

 **[Purpose: Empowerment. Purpose: Merging.]** _The Shard-like entity repeated before adding,_ **[Purpose: Concurrent. Winged One. Retribution. Revenging. Relief. Finality. Release.]**

 _Somehow blinking, the_ [Queen Administrator] _took in the lecture it had been given._

 **[Resignation.]** _It sent at length,_ **[Destination?]**

 **[Agreement. Alignment?]**

 **[Agreement.]**

 _The two similar yet different Shards spun together and merged, forming inside the unconscious body of its host as it was carted off to the hospital._ )

 _Two Weeks Later_

 _Warehouse, Docks Area_

Looking at my wrists, I smiled sadly. According to the doctors, the burns around my forearms were some sort of allergic reaction to whatever filth was in The Locker, permanently scarring me.

I knew better.

Flexing my hands, I summoned my power. The twin Venger Blades appeared in my hands, attached to me by chains seemingly wrapped around my forearms. They had heft to them, but at the same time, they were almost weightless. In real life, they almost shimmered with power, reflecting the light off their highly-polished surfaces. The edges were so sharp it made me shiver.

Drawing the blades back, I released them from my hands and swung them in a scissor motion. The chains attaching them to my wrists expanded, snaking out so that the short scissor motion turned into a pair of large swipes before they retracted back to my hands.

Practicing with them hadn't been possible until today, thanks in part to my hospital stay and thanks in part to my Dad going all super-overprotective on me. I could barely get out of bed without him fussing over me. Considering I had almost died, it was kind of understandable, but all I could think was 'too little, too late.'

As I had been scarred for life, the suit against the school that Dad had launched was picking up steam. The fact that the bio-waste inside the locker had been toxic and acidic enough to leave such large scars on my arms had the Board of Education breathing down Principal Blackwell's neck, much to my satisfaction.

Of course, her immediate response was to have me transferred to Arcadia, away from Winslow. I guess it was better than going to the Rich Girl's school Immaculata or the blue-collar worker's school Clarendon, but it really pissed me off that the bitch was getting off with just shunting me to the side like this.

As I thought of the woman, my anger grew and I increased the pace of my combat practice, slicing, and stabbing, skewering and hacking lumps of metal to pieces. That was something I was rather happy about. As well as my Venger Blades, I was also superhumanly strong and resilient, with the ability to ignore a certain amount of pain completely, and mitigate that which I couldn't ignore.

After turning the metal blocks into scrap metal, I dismissed my Venger Blades and headed home. I was really tired all of a sudden. When I got in, I collapsed into my bed and was out like a light.

 _Unknown Location_

"Here again?" I muttered as I looked around. I was standing in front of the altar where I had drawn the Venger Blades from. Yet, the darkness behind the altar was dimmer and part of a new path was opening up.

Shrugging, I decided to see where it led and started walking again. The darkness around the path was a bit clearer than the last time I was here and I could now see figures fighting among the buildings, although not clearly.

As I walked, I found myself thinking about what I wanted to do with my powers. Seeking vengeance was all very well, but it wasn't heroic. And I wanted to be a hero so, so badly. If for no other reason, to stop others from suffering as I had.

I stopped in front of two suits of armour. On the right was a set of heavy Greek armour made of rust-red metal, with ram horns, snarling dogs and chains adorned on it. Just by looking at it, I could feel bloodlust pouring off of it.

 **FOR ONE WHO WOULD LOSE THEMSELVES IN BATTLE, THE ARMOUR OF WAR SHALL REND A PATH OPEN OR YOU.**

I felt those words in my mind before shaking my head. That armour would be right if I wished to become a villain, but I didn't, so I turned to the other armour. It was lighter than the other and seemingly made of gold and had a white cloth over it…an aegis, I somehow knew it to be called.

 **FOR ONE WHO WOULD TEMPER VIOLENCE WITH REASON, ATHENA'S AEGIS SHALL CLEAVE A PATH FOR YOU.**

This made me nod. This was more my speed. Walking over to the golden armour, I pressed a hand to it and suddenly, I was wearing it. It didn't feel heavy whatsoever and my movements were uninhibited from what I could tell.

Looking up, I saw that there was something just a bit beyond the armours, so I advanced towards it. Floating atop a plinth was a headband…or a rather unadorned tiara…of some sort, with a plain veil attached to it.

 **FOR ONE WHO FIGHTS FOR WHAT IS RIGHT, HESTIA GRANTS YOU THE VEIL OF THE FORGOTTON QUEEN TO GUARD YOUR FACE FROM THOSE WHO WOULD WATCH YOU.**

Just as soon as the voice spoke, the veil vanished, yet I knew I possessed it, somehow. Just as I knew that no-one and nothing that looked at me, organic or technological or even using powers, would be unable to make out my face when I was using my powers.

Then everything whited out.

 _The Next Morning_

 _Taylor's Bedroom, Hebert Residence_

My eyes snapped open. I was in bed, still fully dressed. And Dad was pottering about in the kitchen, from what I could hear. Hell, I'd better get down there before he blew up the microwave. Again.

Quickly changing into my jammies, I padded down the stairs and came across the odd sight of my Dad sitting at the table and a woman cooking for him.

"Dad?" I asked cautiously. Both people jumped in surprise.

"Taylor, when did you get up?" Dad asked, a slight blush on his face.

"Just now." I answered, eying the woman warily, "Who is this?"

"My name is Hannah, Hannah Washington." The woman answered with a small smile. She was Middle Eastern, with kind eyes and a face that looked more accustomed to smiling than frowning. She was a bit taller than I was and looked as if she worked out. Even as she paid attention to me, she was serving up three plates of food, bacon, eggs, the works. Talk about multitasking.

Noticing my raised eyebrow, she explained, "I know kids, especially teenagers. I was planning on wafting some of the scent from this up the stairs, but it looks like that's not needed."

"I got up because I heard someone in the kitchen." I informed her, "Dad usually knows to leave it to me, but I thought he was about to make a mess again."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Dad protested.

I just looked at him and said in a deadpan voice, "Dad, the last time you tried to cook, you _blew up the microwave_ because you forgot that you shouldn't put metal in them."

Dad coughed in embarrassment.

"It's a good thing I volunteered to cook then." Hannah said in amusement.

Once we ate, I decided to get changed before coming down to confront them.

"OK, so what's the reason you're here, Ms. Washington?" I asked once we were seated in the living room. I was wearing my usual faire; form concealing clothes that helped me blend in.

"I am an agent of the PRT." The woman said slowly, drawing out an ID that she handed to me to inspect. It certainly looked authentic. I handed it back with a nod.

"OK, so why come and see my Dad and me?" I asked with a frown, "We haven't been involved in any Parahuman activities, to the best of my knowledge."

OK, a lie, but hey, I was entitled.

"The hospital is required to pass any injuries that seem to be of Parahuman origin to us." Hannah said steadily, "And those wounds on your arms are clearly not caused by ordinary bio-waste. Did you know that Panacea was called in while you were unconscious to try and erase them? She couldn't undo them."

I blinked. The greatest Healer in the world couldn't remove my arm scars? "No, I didn't know that."

Dad coughed again. "I didn't want to make you depressed, Taylor."

"It's fine, Dad." I shook my head.

"It isn't actually." Hannah stated, "Taylor, we've seen the police reports. No one saw anything. No one saw you get pushed in. We suspect a Master or Stranger did this to you, alongside a Biotinker who produced the…filth."

That made me blink. "Are you kidding?" I scoffed, "It isn't a Master or a Stranger…unless you call a conspiracy of silence something that requires M/S screening."

This time it was the woman's turn to blink. "I beg your pardon?"

So I tell her everything that's happened since my Mom died. Emma's betrayal, the things that the Bitch Trio had done to me and even that they were behind the Locker Incident. I even fetched a copy of my Bully Journal and gave it to her.

"I have several copies of that in various locations in case someone makes it 'disappear' mysteriously." I told her with a shrug. By the time she left, Hannah looked as if she had been clubbed over the head.

 _Later_

 _Director's Office, PRT Building_

"This is…!" Emily Piggot's hands shook with rage as she reviewed the page of the journal she was reading. "She _definitely_ said it was Sophia Hess? And she had no time to write this in advance?"

"Yes." Hannah Washington, otherwise known as Miss Militia, said firmly. "There is no doubt. She preferred to call her 'one of the Bitch Trio' when talking about her, but she clearly identified Sophia Hess as one of the one's responsible for her locker imprisonment. And neither Hebert had any clue that I was going to visit them whatsoever. She did mention that she has several copies of this journal in several locations in case this one 'mysteriously disappears.'"

"She thinks we'd brush this whole thing under the carpet?" the shock and outrage on Piggot's face was a picture, were it not for the fact that it would be a highly likely scenario, had the Hebert Locker Incident not been so widely publicised. Danny Hebert's lawsuit against the administration and teachers of Winslow Highschool was gaining public support, not least from the members of the Dockworker's association who he represented.

"She has been sufficiently jaded by the events of the past _fifteen months_ that her belief and trust in authority figures is effectively nil." Miss Militia said neutrally.

"As she would be, naturally." Piggot sighed, "Right. Get a warrant to allow Dragon to search the Winslow servers for these e-mails and the accounts they belong to. Also get Armsmaster to search Shadow Stalker's locker, both here and at Winslow for anything incriminating. You are to search her home. As soon as she gets in for her shift, I want an electric current bracelet slapped onto her and I want to get to the bottom of this situation as soon as possible. If Miss Hebert is telling the truth, then Shadow Stalker has crossed the line and earned herself a one-way trip to Juvenile Hall."

 **So I'm fairly certain you can guess where this comes from. God of War. Specifically, the powerset that Taylor is going to be using is from GoW: Ascension. I'll give a power table once I get the third chapter of this out. Her Cape Name, for those who are interested, will be Bia, the name of the Greek personification of raw force and energy and is the sister of Kratos (Power), Nike (Victory) and Zelus (Zeal). They were the attendants of Zeus' throne.**


	75. Chaotic Pack Chapter 2

**Chaotic Pack Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 62)**

" _Alan, take Emma and run! Go! I'll hold them off!"_

" _Danny…! Don't die!"_

" _Uncle Danny?! No,_ _ **don't!**_ _"_

 _ **BANG!**_

Emma Barnes' eyes shot open, full of tears. She sat up slowly, swiping angrily at her eyes.

'It's all my fault.' She thought bitterly.

That day, she and her father had taken Danny Hebert out to try to cheer him up. He had lost his wife, who Emma had loved like an Aunt, a few weeks beforehand. Taylor, her best friend had been just as devastated by the loss of her mother, but she had struggled to hold herself together, to be strong for the sake of her father. It had been something Emma had always admired about Taylor; the tall, lanky brunette had always been mentally stronger than her.

Danny had sent Taylor to Summer Camp in the hopes of helping her to recover fully, while Emma and her family, as well as a couple of people from the Dockworker's Association, tried to help Danny.

That day had been supposed to be a nice day out for them. Instead, they had been attacked by the ABB. One had tried to torture Emma and Danny had _lost it._ He had smashed a punch into the jaw of the bastard trying to hurt Emma and then flung him into the others before grabbing a length of pipe out of a nearby bin and ordering Alan to run with Emma.

She hadn't seen it happen, but Emma had heard the gunshot, had seen the aftermath after Shadow Stalker cleaned up the ABB scum He had been shot in the head and, amazingly, _refused_ to die. Even now, he was in Brockton Bay General's Intensive Care Ward. Panacea couldn't fix whatever was wrong with his brain, but all of the other physical injuries Danny Hebert had suffered before being shot had been healed, even the bullet holes, both the entry and exit wounds.

When Taylor had been told, on top everything…it had been too much for her. Her eyes had rolled back and she'd had a fit of some kind. Emma and her father had panicked until she had come out of the fit looking dazed, but well. At least before she had burst into tears and clung to Emma like a limpet.

It had taken another month before Taylor was in any state to leave her house. A couple called Kurt and Lacey were named her legal guardians due to Danny's…state and they knew and trusted Taylor enough to leave her alone most days…especially since Emma had taken to staying with Taylor more often than not.

The maddening thing was, in Emma's opinion, Taylor didn't blame her for what happened to Danny. At all. No blame assigned to her, whatsoever. It didn't make sense. It had been _Emma_ who was supposed to be tortured into a vegetable, not Danny. Why wasn't Taylor angry at her?

" _Because you're my friend, Emma."_ Taylor had said, _"You're practically my sister. Dad acted as he did because he saw you like that as well. He protected you because he wanted to protect someone he considered like a daughter. Don't demean what he did, Emma."_

And so, she'd _tried_ to forgive herself. Emma knew she was a little shallow, very much a clothes horse and was very weak of mind. She was in tatters because of what Danny -the person she had called _Uncle_ Danny for years- had suffered on her behalf. If Danny hadn't been there…she would have been even worse, she knew.

Getting out of bed, she grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. She paused as she heard the scrape of metal on metal. Sighing and shaking her head, the redhead padded towards the workshop area.

The most amazing thing about the mess with the ABB was that Taylor had become a Parahuman, a Tinker specifically. The things she could create were incredible! By putting a rock, just a plain old ordinary rock, in a solution for a week, she could make a 'Zoid Core' that glittered like a diamond.

Using those Zoid Cores, Taylor could build mechanical bodies that moved and acted like animals, once she formatted their programming to act like their chosen animal.

Her father was backing her with money for materials. He wanted the ABB to pay for what happened to his old friend, so he was doing what he could to help out. He had used his legal connections to set up a front business for Taylor, with himself as a member of the sole shareholder and a 'mysterious businesswoman' as the CEO.

Emma peered around the doorway at Taylor, dressed in her work clothes. She was chatting with her 'Organoid' that she called Zeke for whatever reason. Organoids were different from Zoids, somehow. Taylor had tried to explain it to Emma, but the words just sailed right over her head. Something about a special type of Zoid Core made from precious stones and a different solution.

The Zoids that Taylor had made up until this point had needed a place to be stores, so the 'company' had purchased a warehouse and Taylor had made it into a fortress, albeit a very well concealed fortress. Even if you knew what to look for, you couldn't see or detect the weapons and shields before they were deployed. Plus, Taylor had used her first five Command Wolves to dig a tunnel from the base to her house's basement. After supporting and securing the tunnel, it was an easy way to get to and from the base without being seen, especially using the Command Wolf-drawn sleigh to go to and fro. If they had to sleep overnight at the warehouse/base, there were the sleeping quarters that Emma was in at the moment.

Right now, Taylor was working on what she called a Shield Liger, a lion-shaped and carthorse-sized Zoid that was to be her mount around the Bay. Emma envied that she could do these things and wanted to help, but her father shot the ideas she made down before she could get them out of her mouth.

She watched as Taylor started the Liger up and then ran the main test for it, involving Zeke somehow _combining_ with it like in an episode of _Power Rangers_ or something. After a moment, Emma decided to make herself known.

"Taylor, you still awake?" she called, making herself sound sleepier than she actually was.

"Hey Ems." Taylor answered with a smile as she turned to look at her, "Did I wake you?"

"Nah. Nightmare." Emma answered.

"About…that?" Taylor said nervously.

"Yeah…I can't get it out of my mind…" the redhead sighed.

The brunette padded over and hugged her friend. "I wish there was something I could do to get rid of those stupid nightmares. It wasn't your fault; it was the ABB's fault…and I started to make them pay for it tonight."

"You did?" Emma pushed back to look up at her friend's face.

"Yup. Stopped a gang fight between the Empire and the ABB." Taylor's grin was bright. "The unpowered members stand no chance against my Zoids."

"Yeah, but what about Oni Lee and…Lung?" The redhead worried.

"The Command Wolves, the Flock and the Swarm aren't going to be enough for them." The Tinker admitted, "But my Shield Liger is the first of my larger Zoid forces. Once I've finished putting him through his paces, I'll build a few more and then start working on a couple of long-range designs I have in the back of my mind. Then I'll work out something to track a teleporter and inhibit regenerators. And THEN we'll see if the Dragon of Kyushu is all he's made out to be."

The iron determination in Taylor's voice made Emma shiver slightly. She was still furious about what happened to her father, unsurprisingly.

"OK, just…remember you need to sleep like all us mortals." Emma reminded her friend, "Zeke, remind her to get to bed before three, OK?"

"Hrrrm!" the Organoid nodded.

"Hey! No suborning my Organoid!" Taylor mock-complained.

"Well then get to bed, dummy." Emma teased. She gave Taylor another hug before padding back towards the sleeping quarters, "Like I'm gonna do. Night, Tay."

"Night, Ems."

 _The Next Day_

 _Winslow Highschool_

I yawned as I walked alongside Emma towards the beaten-up façade of the school building.

"You didn't go to bed until after three, did you?" Emma said flatly.

"Two-fifty." I yawned again.

"I need my own Organoid simply to get you to bed sooner." Emma muttered and shook her head in exasperation.

"Easily done. I figured out how to make them two days ago." I smirked as Emma's head snapped around to stare at me.

"I'd hug you right now if it wasn't for everyone else, so consider yourself glomped." She muttered to me.

"Noted."

 _Lunchtime_

 _Cafeteria_

"I think this mystery meat is pre-Scion." I said as I eyed the blob of…something…on my tray.

"The salad is pathetic too." Emma noted, poking at the brown-tinged leaves dubiously.

"All in all…around what you'd expect from Winslow's cafeteria." Madison Clements sighed dramatically. She'd attached herself to us in First Period and was a pretty nice girl. Plus she had that whole 'small and cute little girl' look going for her.

"Packed lunches from tomorrow onwards?" I proposed.

"Agreed." The two girls with me chorused and giggled. A passing girl gave us a disgusted look and muttered, "Fuckin' lesbos."

"Who's that bitch?" I asked when the girl was out of earshot.

"Sophia Hess. She's a real troublemaker, but also an excellent runner." Madison explained in a hushed voice, "She'll be recruited into the Track Team for sure. A friend of a friend of mine who went to the same Middle School as her says she has a mean streak as long as she is tall."

"Stay clear of her, right." I nodded. Last thing I needed was a bully getting on my back.

 _After School_

 _Taylor's Base_

Emma was practically bouncing on her seat as I grabbed a quartz crystal from a drawer.

"So that's the thing you couldn't figure out? Using a quartz crystal instead of a rock?" she asked curiously.

"Not just that." I corrected her, "The size of the rock and how much quartz it has determines what kind of core it can be used for if I use the standard dip. Small pieces of gravel are perfect to use for my Blitz Hornets; reasonably high quartz count, small size. Most other stones vary greatly between mammal, bird and sea life cores."

I nodded towards the wall with jar after jar of Zoid Cores floating in a yellow liquid. "Those are the ones I either can't use yet or haven't built bodies for. There are two differences in the way you make an Organoid Core. The first is that the Core's base material has to be made with a stone made up of at least 90% quartz, the more pure the better. Not sure why, but Organoids seem to be a lot smarter than even Zoids, so maybe it has to do with that."

"How smart are Zoids, anyway?" Emma asked.

"About as smart as a child of ten to twelve years-old, if they aren't Blitz Hornets." I answered after a moment, "My Shield Liger's about as smart as a fifteen year old. **Zeke** , on the other hand, is _definitely_ smarter than your average adult."

"Hrrrm-hrrrm!" Zeke agreed as he curled into a ball at Emma's feet.

"Yeah, we're talking about you." I laughed.

"What's the other difference?" my friend asked.

"Blood." I answered simply. "When I was making Zeke's Core, I accidentally cut my palm and infected the dip with my blood. From what that knowledge 'unlocked' in my mind, it binds the Organoid to the owner of the blood. It'll be _your_ Organoid and not mine. I won't be able to command it."

"Will…will it have to be a lot of blood?" Emma asked in a small voice. I realised why. Those damn ABB _bastards_ threatening to cut her eye out. If I ever found them, I'd teach them a lesson.

"No, Ems. Just the kind you get from a shallow cut." I reassured her, "Tip of your finger with the jab of a needle and a few drops. Then a plaster and you're fine. Trust me?"

Emma nodded. "Of course."

The procedure went fairly smoothly. Emma flinched when I jabbed her finger with a sewing needle and dripped the resulting blood into the dip (my name for the mixture that creates Zoid Cores), after which I put a band-aid on it and teased her by kissing it better, earning me a slap to the arm.

"There." I said with a nod as I sealed up the jar and placed it atop a Bunsen burner. "A week from now, we'll have a second organoid up and running. Now all I have to do is build its body and we'll be good."

"Tay…thank you." Emma said with a smile.

"Eh. What're friends for." I waved her thanks away airily, "Besides…I have a plan."

"Oh?"

I led her to the map of Brockton Bay on the wall. It had the various territories marked out on it; Empire in black, ABB in red, Merchants in royal blue, New Wave in in white and blue, the Protectorate in yellow and the mysterious Coil in orange. My base was marked on it with a brass tack, with a circle drawn in pencil around it stretching for several blocks.

"That ring marks the limit of Zeke's ability to wirelessly command my Zoids." I told Emma, "All Organoids have around about the same range. What I'm planning on doing is putting special repeaters spaced in strategic locations throughout the Bay so I could, theoretically, control my Zoids all over Brockton Bay at the same time, without moving from this base."

"Holy shit!" Emma squeaked.

"Uh-huh. It gets better though." I smirked, "If you have an Organoid as well, once I get the repeaters up, you and your Organoid could support me while I'm out there with Zeke! Or even take care of other crimes elsewhere while I'm dealing with some myself!"

My best friend looked at me with wide eyes. "Tay…you…you've been planning to do this since you found out how to make more Organoids…haven't you?"

"Well yeah." I replied with a blink. "I know you want to help and I know Alan doesn't want you to be hurt. This helps both of you and I get help kicking ABB ass. Win-Win-Win."

Emma said nothing for a moment before hugging me tightly. "You idiot." She said once she pushed away, happy tears in her eyes.

"Let's get down to talking about what you want your Organoid have on-board." I said with a kind smile in return, "I have some plans for a stealth system…"

 **So, here's the major difference. Emma didn't fight back because she wasn't given a chance to. Danny went berserk and stomped two of the ABB grunts before the third headshot him. Why did he go apeshit? He couldn't save his wife, so when he had the chance to save someone else he cared about, he took it. Stranger things have happened**

 **On another note, I like all the suggestions that people make in reviews, but a little word about the chapter in addition to any suggestions would be nice.**


	76. How Dense Can You Get? Chapter 2

**How Dense Can You Get? Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 17)**

 _Lung's 'Throne Room'_

Lung glared down at Haretsu from his 'throne' with suspicion in his eyes. The loss of the safe house full of weapons had infuriated the Dragon of Kyushu. Not because he had valued the building or its contents but because it had been HIS.

"So this… _gaijin onna_ Smackdown overpowered you?" he asked sceptically.

"H-Hai, Lung-sama." Haretsu answered, cradling his broken arm. "She did this to me with a single tap of her index finger, and even my most powerful explosions failed to more than scuff her attire."

Lung's eyes narrowed. He had felt one of Haretsu's most powerful explosions himself when he had had the man test it on him and it had hurt, a lot. For someone to simply be scuffed by it was unprecedented.

If the man was telling the truth that is.

"If I find out you are lying to me…!" he growled at the cowering man.

"I swear to you I'm not!" Haretsu said shakily.

"For your sake, you had better not be."

 _Later_

 _Taylor's Secret Base_

Taylor felt as if her body had been bludgeoned with lead pipes. Yes, she had made her skin and clothes functionally impenetrable, but it had still hurt like hell.

Removing her clothes was very easy, as all she had to do was adjust the density of them to normal before allowing her body to follow suit. Thanks to the little selective density power that was always active, she could walk normally while wearing and carrying weights that make a couple of tanks look light without being crushed like a bug.

Haretsu had been the first real test of her powers aside from the rank-and-file ABB grunts. The most damage they had done to Taylor was…essentially nothing. Bullets bounced off, swords broke and what have you, but the truest test of a Parahuman's powers was against those of another Parahuman.

' _I have made an enemy of the ABB…_ ' she mused. Haretsu had formally declared that before she had allowed him to flee. It wasn't unexpected and she had very little reason to care what the criminal element of the city thought of her.

She carefully inserted the mace made from the former ABB storehouse into the slot she had dug out of the ground, alongside her other super-dense weapons made from compressed ships from the Boat Graveyard. It sunk into the ground up to its hilt, like the others.

Granted, leaving her weapons here wasn't exactly what she'd call useful or convenient. It was in fact incredibly _in_ convenient. Still, she wasn't able to carry the things around with her all the time; the Bitch Trio would break their backs trying to steal them and she'd be outed in an instant. No, better to put up with the inconvenience and keep her identity a secret.

 _Three Nights Later_

 _Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

Smackdown leapt lightly from building to building, the mace from the ABB safe house and a club made of a ship slung over her back. They wouldn't be needed unless she ran into a strong enough Brute, which wasn't a common power in Brockton Bay. Just about the only Cape who would be a threat enough to warrant that level of response would be Lung. Perhaps Hookwolf as well, but it was doubtful.

' _Not to quote a clichéd line, but it's way too quiet around here._ ' She thought as she looked around warily. No swaggering gangsters, no Merchants…nothing. It stunk of a trap.

"So, you are the wench who took something of mine." A deep voice in heavily accented English said, making her freeze. Turning around, Smackdown's heart skipped a beat. _Lung._ He hadn't ramped up yet, but only a handful of villains in the Bay went without a shred of clothing on their torso; Hookwolf, Stormtiger and Lung.

Lung's metal dragon mask was distinctive enough without the sparse few tattoos on his body that were in Chinese script. He was stood on the roof opposite hers with his arms crossed, uncaring of the cool breeze that was blowing down the street.

"So you're the lazy dragon that's been destroying my city." She found herself saying as she reached back to grasp the handles of her weapons.

"I do not take to having my possessions destroyed and my people hurt." The Dragon of Kyushu growled.

" _I_ don't care much for your gang raping, murdering and tearing up my home." Smackdown countered.

Lung's eyes narrowed. "Prepare to suffer for touching what is mine."

"If you can." The Heroine answered as she drew her weapons.

For a moment, the two Parahumans were motionless. Then Lung roared, ramping up into a scaly-version of himself, with flames licking around his hands like a corona.

Smackdown responded by throwing the club at Lung, striking him in the chest and sending the Rage Dragon flying through the air in agony. His chest had been caved in and his bones shattered.

' _What…the hell!?_ ' was all Lung could think in disbelief, pain infringing on his mind before he smashed into a billboard. Thankfully, it also let him part ways with the improbably heavy club that had given him airtime, the clubs spinning off to slam into the ground. His body was already healing and ramping up fast, faster than any time before, save for the time he had faced Leviathan.

A worthy foe? Interesting…

Letting lose a roar of challenge, the Dragon of Kyushu returned to his feet, his eyes seeking out the gaijin who had struck him. She was landing on the roof and taking a double-handed hold on her mace.

"Bitch!" he bellowed and blasted a fireball at her. As expected, it washed over her harmlessly. If she could tank explosions of Haretsu's level, then a little heat wasn't going to do much. Close combat it was.

Meeting his charge head on, the girl slammed her mace into his leading right arm, shattering bones and snapping ligaments. Had he not been a regenerator, it would have been crippled for life. He grabbed her with his left arm and tried to lift her up…but couldn't.

"What the…?!"

"Sucks to be outmatched, doesn't it?" Smackdown snarled before slamming her mace into his left arm, breaking it as well and forcing him to let her go.

"I. AM. **LUNG!** " he roared, insulted by her presumption. His rage fed his powers, making him grow ever stronger, ever larger. Fire leapt from around him like fiery arms and wings erupted from his back as his scales redoubled in thickness in an attempt to protect him from the sting of her weapon. His mask tumbled to the ground as his face became almost completely draconic.

Arms already healed, he swung them at Smackdown, who dodged under them before smashing her mace into Lung's stomach, sending him staggering back a couple of metres. His insides felt pulverised by the strike and it was with a great deal of gratitude to his powers that he felt his regeneration kick in again, healing the damage.

"Seriously, give. Up." The helmeted girl growled before returning her mace to its holster and assuming a basic self-defence stance.

Growling that the girl was underestimating him by putting her weapon away, Lung charged in again. She dodged his swipes before landing several punches to his gut in quick succession, each feeling like he'd been slammed into by a cargo ship. Next, she grabbed one of his arms and threw him into the air before leaping after him, unlimbering her mace again as she did so. Once the Dragon of Kyushu reached the apex of his impromptu flight, she smashed him in the back with her weapon, shattering his spine and sending him spiralling straight into the Bay.

Landing on the ground with a grunt, she looked around and spotted PRT vans on the way. She reluctantly abandoned her weapon, as retrieving it would delay her too much and get her the attention of the PRT and Protectorate, which she didn't need right now.

 _Later_

 _Armsmaster's Lab_

"And this is…what, exactly?" Emily Piggot asked as she eyed the baseball bat-sized club.

"It was recovered from the aftermath of a battle between Lung and a new Parahuman…with Lung being on the defensive the entire time, according to a few eyewitness statements." Armsmaster replied.

Emily's head twisted towards him so fast that it was a surprise that she didn't pull a muscle. "What?!"

"My reaction as well." A face appeared on a nearby monitor. It was the image of a young woman wearing a token domino mask.

"Dragon." Emily nodded, "I take it Armsmaster brought you in to consult on this for some reason?"

"Correct." The Miniaturisation and Efficiency Tinker stated.

"Director…this 'club' is composed of metal, tightly packed metal that is essentially an entire ship shrunken down and condensed into this shape." Dragon said slowly, "It has all the combined weight and density that the amount of metal, glass, rubber and other materials that a ship the size of a modest cargo ship would possess. Coincidentally, a cargo ship hulk from the Boat Graveyard vanished not that long ago."

"Dear god…!" the Director whispered, looking at the suddenly very, very dangerous weapon floating in the field before her. A direct strike from that thing could kill anyone who wasn't an exceptionally powerful Brute or was a powerful regenerator, like Lung.

"Wait, if this thing still weighs the same and is just as dense as the combined materials of the ship it is made from, how could someone even wield it?" she demanded.

"A strong enough Brute could wield it." Armsmaster suggested, "At least Brute 7, with Brute 8+ being more likely."

"It would still be unwieldy." Dragon pointed out, "A weight cancellation field of some sort? Tactile gravity manipulation? The list goes on. It would, however, best be assumed that the Cape who did this has some sort of ability that allows them to wield these sorts of weapons as Armsmaster does his halberd."

"Dear god. Lung would have been pulverised." The PRT ENE Director muttered. "Right. Whoever is able to do this has to be found and brought into the Protectorate or Wards, whichever is applicable. Do we have _any_ footage of the fight whatsoever?"

"None." Dragon shook her digital image's head. "I could scan the CCTV footage across the city for any sightings of unusual Capes that we don't recognise though."

"Do it." Emily ordered. Dragon frowned for a moment before a small smile showed up on her image.

"Here's an image of someone leaping in a clearly superhuman manner near a crossroad."

The person on the monitor was dressed in motorcycle leathers and a helmet. They were facing away from the camera, but the symbol of the clenched fist and aura around it was visible on the back, obviously added to the otherwise plain black leathers by the Parahuman.

"A better effort for a beginner costume than most new Capes." Armsmaster opined.

"Yes, although not at all conductive to defence unless she has other powers." Dragon commented.

"Have a basic description of this Parahuman put into the next update for the Protectorate and Wards." Piggot ignored the interplay between the two friends. "I want him or her to be under Protectorate supervision, stat!"

 **I skipped Alexandrite because my inspiration for that powerset dried up. Oh well.**


	77. A Storm of Blades Chapter 2

**A Storm of Blades Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 63)**

 _Two Days Later_

 _Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

Carnwennan stood atop a warehouse at the docks with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. Someone had posted a message on PHO to 'White Hilt' and had asked them to PM back. She had, reluctantly, decided to do so, but had taken the time to set up a dummy account so no one could track her down via it.

The result of the private chat session was her waiting on this rooftop for whoever 'AllSeeingEye' was to show up. Of course, she had taken precautions against being sniped or what have you. Embedded around the edge of the roof were daggers that were generating an invisible forcefield across the whole roof. Slow moving things, like a person, could get through them, but things like arrows or bullets? No chance.

' _I have an odd feeling about this._ ' The young hero thought with a sigh. No one just posts on PHO asking to meet you on a whim. Plus, AllSeeingEye had, by way of her post, hinted that s/he had been around when she had faced down Lung.

'Hey, White Hilt. Not so little are you? My friends and I owe you one for what you did. PM me for details. I'll make sure to look up before talking though.'

Only she and Lung had been there, at least Carnwennan had thought so. She had created the daggers as she and Lung were talking before drawing his attention to them with an arm gesture. Only someone who had been there would know that, so evidently she hadn't been as careful as she had thought. Live and learn.

Hearing someone climb up the stairs, Carnwennan turned to face them. The door was wide open so no one could catch her off guard, plus she had several anti-Stranger daggers dotted around the area that would stop someone from using such powers to avoid her sight.

The person who was revealed was a girl wearing a purple and black costume, with a domino mask over her face, framed by dirty blond hair. An Egyptian eye symbol, likely either the Eye of Ra or the Eye of Horus, was emblazoned in gold in the middle of her chest. In one hand was…a lunchbox?

What the hell?

"Hi there!" the girl said cheerfully. "I know this was a bit of a stretch, coming to a meeting with an unknown person, so I came alone. Nice daggers, by the way. Anti-Stranger trump effect and…oh-hoh! The ones around the roof's edge are creating a Shaker effect. That is one flexible power you have there."

The black, white and silver clad heroine tensed at that. "You're a Thinker."

"Guilty as charged." The other girl admitted freely. "The name's Tattletale. You fought Lung yesterday and save my life."

Carnwennan blinked. "Uhh…you're welcome?"

Tattletale laughed slightly. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? I'm a member of the Undersiders, a gang of villains who mostly commit robberies, and even then mostly against other villains. Yesterday, Lung was after us because we robbed his casino. Lemme tell you, that isn't something we're going to try again any time soon."

"You're a villain?" the dagger Cape was immediately on the defensive.

"Yes, but I am not stupid enough to pick a fight with someone who can summon up to a thousand daggers and telekinetically control them, not to mention Trump them, and turn me into a shish-kebab." The Thinker said with a grin as she shifted the lunchbox to face Carnwennan. Taped to the face of the lunchbox was a note.

 _Conceal us. Being watched. Being bugged. Can't talk freely. Help._

Narrowing her eyes, the dagger creator made sixteen more daggers that slammed into the roof around them. Eight of them created a nigh-impregnable to sight fog, while the other eight generated a field that created a Faraday Cage effect, as well as frying any electronics other than a cell phone within its boundaries.

"Done. We can't be seen or heard." Carnwennan said once all the daggers were solidly planted. Tattletale sagged in relief. "OK, answers, now."

"I'm being blackmailed into being a villain by another villain." Tattletale answered quickly. "He has a power than can seemingly make what he wants to happen, happen. He tracks me down every time I try to run and made ten correct coin toss guesses in a row, all heads, decided beforehand. I want to be safe and I want out of the Undersiders. You're a powerful Parahuman that he has no idea about, aside from the bare minimum I told him yesterday. I missed out several of your more impressive abilities and I'm the only one who contacts the boss in the Undersiders, or vice versa."

"OK, so assuming I believe that you're telling the truth, what do you want me to do about it?" the Shaker asked, irritation in her voice.

"Hide me somewhere." The maybe-not-villain almost begged. "Seriously, he's not someone I want to stay near. He had me snatched off the street and bluntly told me that I could either work for him or get a 9mm lobotomy …while he held a gun to my head. He's ruthless."

Carnwennan had to admit that whoever this guy was, he was not a nice guy. The main thing was though, he didn't sound like any of the villains in the Bay. Lung was obviously out, Skidmark was too drug addled for that kind of long-term play to be functional and Kaiser had the wrong kind of mind-set for this sort of thing, so who then?

Tattletale opened her mouth, but a loud BANG noise, like someone hitting a dome of shatterproof glass, interrupted her. Carnwennan made a Trump dagger that let her see through Shaker effects and sighed.

"Your teammates are here and trying to break down the barrier." She informed the Thinker. "Looks like they either think I'm doing something to you or your boss has somehow read you in advance again."

"Dammit!" Tattletale hissed.

Dispersing the fog, Carnwennan scowled slightly at the other three members of the Undersiders, who were arguing with each other…or at least, Grue was arguing with Regent, while Bitch was glaring at the barrier, the three monster dogs clustered around her.

"Tats!" Grue shouted once he caught sight of her.

"Grue, what the hell?" the Thinker demanded, "I thought we agreed that I'd meet Carnwennan myself first before letting her meet the rest of you?"

"The boss sent someone over, saying that you're planning on backstabbing us." Grue said as he crossed his arms. Unbeknownst to the Undersiders, the dagger-Shaker generated a special blade in her belt.

"Because I owe him _so much_ loyalty after he gave me the choice of a 9mm lobotomy or working for him." Tattletale mocked. Evidently, she had decided to take refuge in audacity. "I want out from under his thumb and Carnwennan is my best bet at it."

"Sorry Tats, but we have our orders." Regent drawled and waved a hand at them. Tattletale tensed, but nothing happened. "What the fuck?"

The Thinker swivelled her head to look at Carnwennan. "You?"

"An Anti-Master Trump/Shaker effect dagger." The other girl confirmed.

"For fuck sake, she's hax!" Regent slumped, his power totally negated. "I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Since when? Since you got orders or since I nerfed your power?" Carnwennan asked.

"The second one."

The Shaker could see that Grue was hesitating. With her dagger disabling Master effects, his was the only power that would work and it wasn't an offensive one. Bitch's dogs were strong, but they hadn't managed to break through the barrier. Odd that he hadn't thought of the way Tattletale had come up…

"Bitch, head down to the bottom of the warehouse and take Judas with you. Climb up the stairs and attack that way." Grue ordered. Darn, so he had…it certainly took him long enough.

"I took down Lung. You really think I can't handle you three?" Carnwennan called to the loyal Undersiders, a hint of steel in her voice.

"Unlike him, we don't regenerate. You think you can take us down without maiming us?" Grue countered as Bitch, mounted on one of her dogs, leapt down

"Yes." Was Carnwennan's answer. She materialised two daggers in her hands and grasped them tightly. She also dismissed the Anti-Stranger daggers, replacing them with more shield generating daggers, meaning Bitch would be running into a virtual wall when she reached the top of the stairs.

Regent eyed her nervously. He remembered how she had made taking down Lung look easy and he had no wish to be turned into a pincushion. No amount of money was worth that.

"Grue, let's just give up, man." The Renaissance faire reject complained. "I'm too good looking to be turned into shish-kebob!"

"We don't get paid unless we bring back Tats." The leader argued.

"Money's only good to the living. She kicked Lung's ass and I really don't want to see what kinda bullshit she can pull out of her ass when she doesn't want to maul her opponents." The Master Cape shot back.

A loud bang and pained whimper came from the stairs. Tattletale turned her head and saw that Judas had run head-first into the forcefield that was blocking the stairs and that Bitch was now officially angry.

Unfortunately for Carnwennan, she had neglected to think outside the box, so to speak, so when Bitch pumped up Judas a bit more with her power, he became strong enough to bust through the wall.

"Judas, hurt!" Bitch growled and pointed at the surprised Shaker.

"I hate it when I don't think of something!" Carnwennan growled. Busting through the wall was such an obvious move. The reason she hadn't considered it as an option for the Undersiders was that none of them were Brutes and the dogs hadn't been strong enough to do that, if only barely, until now. Live and learn.

Meeting the charging monster dog at a run, Carnwennan slammed the pommel of the right hand blade onto the side of the monster's head, knocking the hulking brute out like a light. It wasn't badly wounded thanks to the enhancement that Bitch put him in, but that did not make the Canine Cape any happier.

"YOU!" she roared, leaping at Carnwennan with hands extended like claws.

The dagger-wielder calmly swiped at her with her left-handed dagger, unleashing a wave of light that sent Bitch flying through the air before sprawling onto the ground, seemingly unharmed but clearly out of the fight.

"Damn." Grue cursed mildly. "Tats, seriously, is this worth what the boss'll do to your parents?"

"I abandoned my parents when they tried to make me use my power to get them rich after my brother committed suicide!" Tattletale snapped in a quiet, but palpable, fury. "Killing them means _nothing_ to me. I know that, he knows that. The only threat he has made that has kept me in line was the threat of being addicted to drugs and turned into a pet! And I am not going to bend and take it from him anymore!"

Grue recoiled at that. "Seriously? I…Tats, why didn't you _tell_ us?"

"Because all of you are under the thumb of the boss." The Thinker threw up her hands as if to say, 'isn't it _obvious?_ ' to the world. "You need the veneer of legitimacy to get your sister away from your deadbeat druggie mother, Bitch needs the support of the boss for her dog shelters and Regent likes the money and would basically do anything for it."

"Hey, not anything." Regent objected. " _Most_ things, yes, but not anything! My asshole is exit only!"

" _Really_ didn't need to know that." Carnwennan deadpanned.

"You _are_ an asshole, Regent." Tattletale said at the same time. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I've made my choice. I don't want you guys hurt, but I will **not** let _Coil_ take me alive!"

She drew a Glock from its holster at the small of her back and flipped the safety. She didn't point it at anyone, not even the unconscious Bitch, but the intent to defend herself was established.

"OK, _enough_." Carnwennan said in a growl. "Grue, is it? You're fucked. Me and Tattletale here are going to leave. You and the reject from the Renaissance are not to follow us. Stop while you're still treading water."

As much as it pained him to admit defeat, Grue had to take the offer. Bitch was down, as was Judas, with Angelica and Brutus therefore useless, Regent was minutes away from heading back to the hideout and he couldn't handle Carnwennan alone. Hell, even all of the Undersiders together, including Tattletale, couldn't handle her. Plus, the knowledge that their boss, Coil, was ready to go that far regarding Tattletale had shaken him something fierce.

He waved a hand, indicating they could go.

"Good. Tattletale? Let's go somewhere more…private to continue our discussion." Carnwennan said briskly and dematerialised all of her daggers except the Anti-Master one. Beckoning Tattletale to follow her, the heroine headed down the stairs, swiftly followed by the purple-costumed Cape.

Grue sighed. "I am not looking forward to explaining to the Boss what happened here."

"Yeah…think you should just give him the bare bones." Regent advised seriously (for a change). "We came, we saw, we got our butts kicked, they left. Sweet and simple. If Tats was telling the truth, then Coil is as bad as…well, you know who I mean."

Heartbreaker.

"Yeah, I can see that." the darkness user sighed. "Let's get Bitch awake and get out of here before Collateral Damage Barbie turns up."

 **So, a bit more of a confrontational break with the Undersiders for Tattletale this time. She is one of my favourite characters in Worm and I like fics that have her getting away from Coil. I loathe him, in case you hadn't noticed. In the first chapter of this, someone asked how a Blaster power would work with a dagger. I just showed you. Swipe and watch the fireworks people.**

 **I am sorry that this came out so late, but I have had a nasty winter cold combined with a headache like you wouldn't believe. The combination is anything but pleasant and makes writing pretty hard to do. This 2000+ word chapter took me five days. Five. Days. Urgh, it makes me humiliated just thinking about it.**


	78. Justice for All

I blinked in shock at the girl standing before me. She was young, maybe about the size and age of a ten-year-old, with blond hair in a close-cropped cut. And she was wearing the oddest clothes; a white robe that was definitely a toga of some description, a cuirass of some sort that had a very…um…mature female figure on it, a hairband that had golden spikes jutting out of it and a blindfold around her eyes.

Just a minute ago, I had entered my room to deal with the itching on the back of my left hand. I had received a ragged circle-shaped scar on the back of my hand during the locker incident last month and it had been itching like crazy for the last day. I had been worried. Had I contracted an infection that had inexplicably lain dormant until today?

Then, as soon as I threw my backpack to the floor and closed my door, it had shone with light and this girl appeared out of nowhere. I was currently taking the moment of silence to reboot my brain from 'Blue Screen of WTF?!' mode.

"Greetings, Taylor." The girl spoke. Her voice was soft, caring and kind.

"Wh-who are you?" I managed to ask.

"I am Iustitia." The girl introduced herself calmly. "I am your power made manifest."

"Isn't…isn't that the Ancient Roman Goddess of Justice?" I said in stupefaction. My mother had liked talking about where a few concepts in books came from, and I had liked hearing them. Sue me.

"It is also my name." Iustitia inclined her head slightly. "I am what is known as an Embryo. When you Triggered in that locker, I was born within you in my Zeroth Form. Over the past month, I have grown, studying your personality, your morals and your actions. As of today, I was ready to emerge as a Stage 1 Embryo, a Type-Maiden with Arms."

"O…kay?" I moved to the bed and sat down heavily. This was a bit much to take in. "I have no idea what most of that means." I admitted.

"I know. I am a part of you, so your knowledge of this world was downloaded into me when I was born." The Embryo informed me. "You can also speak with me telepathically if you wish, but with the biases against mind powers here, I doubt you will."

Yeah, the Simurgh had soured people to any kind of mind-to-mind communication, and evil Masters like Heartbreaker had done more to sour that kind of thing.

"To fill you in properly, an Embryo is a being, a power born from the actions, personality and decisions of their Masters. In my case, I was born from you and I was shaped and grown in reaction to your actions, words and personality over the month I slept within you." Iustitia started. "There are many types of Embryo, but I am what is known as a Type-Maiden. We are relatively rare existences, born to those who care for something or someone greatly. We take the form of a girl and grow until we are teenagers in step with the strength of our Masters. Type-Maidens are hybrid Embryos, possessing another Embryo Type in addition to our maiden Type. In my case, I am a Type-Maiden with Arms, meaning that I transform into a weapon or armour."

My mind swirled with information. OK, it was official; either this was real or I was in a coma in real life. Had I been on a bad trip or something?

"OK…OK…" I muttered. "So…anything else?" I asked.

"Walk over to the mirror over there." Iustitia nodded towards my open wardrobe door, with the mirror on the inside of it. Shrugging, I did so.

"Touch it with the index finger from your left and run it down about a foot." Iustitia instructed me.

Feeling a bit silly, I did so. Then my eyes almost popped out of their sockets as words scrolled down in the actual glass itself.

 **Name:** **Taylor Hebert**

 **Gender:** **Female**

 **Level:** **0**

 **Title:** **None**

 **Job (s):** **None**

 **EXP:** **79/100**

 **Embryo:** **Maiden of Justice Iustitia**

 **Embryo Type:** **Maiden with Arms**

 **Embryo Forms Achieved:** **1/7**

 **Stats**

 **HP: 150**

 **STA: 1000**

 **MP: 155**

 **Strength: 10**

 **Toughness: 10**

 **Endurance: 10**

 **Intelligence: 20**

 **Wisdom: 15**

 **Luck: ?**

"Th-this is…!" I breathed.

"This is an ability all Embryos give their Masters; the ability to quantify and display your physical and mental attributes." Iustitia stated proudly. "Any questions about your stats?"

Did I ever. I was interested in my HP or Health Points and MP or Magic Points. Apparently 150 is the base number all Embryo Masters received for both at the start. They increased by five points each for ever ten points in certain stats once they got above ten. HP was dictated by Strength and Toughness, while MP was dictated by Intelligence and Wisdom. Stamina, as it turned out, was used for non-magical (oh god, I was turning into Myrddin!) attacks, such as sword techniques, as well as being drained as I ran or engaged in combat. It gained a hundred points for every ten points in Endurance and Toughness.

As a bonus, by unlocking Iustitia's First Form, all of my stats had been raised to at least ten across the board. Go me.

Luck was a puzzle for us both. It was usually a number that represented your ability to encounter enemies, the quality of the loot drops from defeated enemies and even how frequently quests were issued. That it was represented by a solitary question mark merely confirmed for me that someone up there was screwing with my life, and likely not in a good way.

The next page, the Skills page, was accessed by swiping my left index finger to the left for a foot. It should have been blank, but I had apparently generated three skills during the month of Iustitia's growth in her Zeroth Form.

 **Taylor Hebert's Skills**

 **\- Pain Resistance (LV2)**

 **\- Danger Sense (LV1)**

 **\- Acting (LV2)**

 **[Pain Resistance]** came from all of the hits I'd endured, **[Danger Sense]** had been the feeling of _wrongess_ that had started to come whenever I was about to be pranked by the Bitch Trio and **[Acting]** came from me feigning that nothing was wrong to Dad. All of them would be useful if I became a hero, but the way I had earned them sucked.

The next page was Iustitia's skills, which I found interesting.

 **Maiden of Justice Iustitia's Skills and Abilities**

 **\- [Justice is Blind] (Form One)**

 **\- [Balance the Scales] (Form One)**

 **\- [Justice over Earthly Authority] (Maiden Form)**

 **\- [The People's Welfare is Supreme] (Maiden Form)**

They were all very impressive. **[Justice is Blind]** levelled the playing field between me and an opposing enemy, power wise. It let me afflict any powers that affected any perception sense used on me onto anyone I chose within ten meters.

 **[Balance the Scales]** was a bit scary. What it did was place a Trump field around me, similar to **[Justice is Blind]** , except this field lowered the physical stats of anyone who entered it to equal mine. As I was currently as physically strong as someone much younger, this was a good thing. These two Skills could only be used by Iustitia in her First Form.

 **[Justice over Earthly Authority]** was Iustitia rendering judgement over someone. It was a bit like the Penance Stare from _Ghost Rider_ , except it didn't leave the victim a vegetable. It merely showed Iustitia what crimes that the person she was looking at had committed. If she looked them in the eyes, she could see the memories of whichever crime had been committed. OK, so it want actually her rendering judgement, but she did find out a lot about the crimes people committed, which was useful.

Finally, **[The People's Welfare is Supreme]** allowed her to heal people. She just had to stand in a room and utter the name of her skill and a light would be released that healed everyone within ten meters. It was very useful, but it had limits. It could only heal physical trauma; cuts, bruises, lacerations, torn muscles and the like. It could also reduce swelling of the brain, which I found odd. It couldn't cure diseases, cancer or anything like that. Both of these could only be used by Iustitia in her Maiden Form.

"Whew…that is one impressive set of abilities that you have." I looked at my…Embryo…with appraising eyes.

"Yup. Especially considering that's only my First Form." The little goddess girl smirked.

"I saw that you have seven forms." I noted. "How do you gain them?"

"You have to get stronger, Master." Iustitia stated. "At the moment, you are Level 0, weak. As you grow stronger and walk down your path, I can grow stronger myself and evolve as your convictions and personality grows."

"Huh?"

Iustitia walked over to me and tenderly grabbed my hand. "Master…Taylor, I was born from your desire for justice. Your need to make things right. As you walk along your path, I will grow and it will shape my path as well. I may change to a different type as opposed to a Maiden with Arms."

"What types are there?" I wondered.

"The main types are Arms, Guardian, Chariot, Castle and Territory." Iustitia explained. "Arms, as I explained, are weapons or armour. Guardians are close to maidens, but take the form of a creature that protects you. Chariots are vehicles; they can literally be any kind of vehicle that the Master can control and ride. Castles are buildings that the Master can live in and often comes with defensive options. Finally, Territories are barriers than enclose areas. A common other type is Legion. They are rare Embryos that produce multiple monsters that the player can command. Typically, they are the Sixth or Seventh Forms of a Guardian Embryo."

"So…you could become a Type-Maiden with Territory?" I clarified.

"Depending on how I grow, yes." Iustitia confirmed. I had to drive an episode of Earth Aleph's version of _Red Dwarf_ out of my mind, the one with the cornily named _Justice Field_ in it.

"OK then…question is, how can I grow stronger?" I mused. "I need a costume to go out as a Cape and I don't have one."

"Well, you're close to levelling up, Master." My Embryo noted. "I'd guess the experience points are from learning those three skills. Learning another one should do the trick."

"OK, what skill? I take it you have one in mind?" I questioned.

"Command me to transform into my Arms form." She said with a small smile.

"Uh…OK. Iustitia, take on your weapon form!" I said.

"By your command, Master." Iustitia curtseyed before vanishing in a flash of light. In her place was a sword. It was about the same size as her Maiden Form and had a leaf-shaped blade. Floating next to it was a set of scales, looking to be made of gold.

"This is my First Form, Master." The Embryo said. "Form One: Sword and Scales of Justice."

"So…sword fighting?" I asked.

"Sword Mastery, but yes." Iustitia answered. "Thanks to having an Embryo, you will learn skills by doing repeated actions. Swinging my sword form will gain you the Sword Skills tree and possibly a Job."

"A Job? Do I get paid?" I joked.

"Not in the way that you mean." Iustitia answered, evidently needing to learn when someone was joking or being sarcastic. "Earning a job and levelling up that job gains you boosts to your stats, HP, MP and Stamina, as well as Class-specific Skills. You can even have multiple jobs equipped at once. Some Rare Jobs require that you have certain Jobs equipped as a perquisite."

…wow. I was in a RL version of an MMORPG. Whatever. Roll with it. Just roll with it, Taylor.

"OK…this still leaves the question of where to hide you." I frowned. "Dad can be a bit dense, but h isn't going to miss a ten year old dressed up like Lady Justice walking around, and he might find you if I leave you like this."

Iustitia transformed back to her Maiden form. "I can store myself inside of your Crest, Master."

I blinked. "My what?"

She pointed at my left hand and there was something like a tattoo of a sword on it. "That tattoo is a Crest, the mark of the Master of an Embryo. I can store myself inside of it and speak to you telepathically if needed. This way, I can come out whenever you need, and I can assume whichever of my forms you need when I emerge."

That…did sound convenient. The telepathy thing was weird and a bit unpleasant to think about, but hey, she had basically been downloading information from my mind for the entire month she had been in Zeroth Form, so a little bit of telepathy was scarcely something to be concerned about, I suppose.

"OK. Sounds like a plan." I smiled at her. "Looking forward to working with you, Iustitia."

"And I you, Master." Iustitia nodded back at me with a smile. "I am looking forward to becoming a Superior Embryo."

"A what now?" I asked.

"It is very hard to become a Seventh Form Embryo." My partner explained. "Those that manage it are known as 'Superior Embryos' and their Masters are known as 'Superior Masters', or just Superiors for short. I have a good feeling I will reach that level while walking by your side, Master."

"Is there anything special about the Seventh Form?" I wondered.

"Yes." Iustitia nodded emphatically. "At the Sixth and Seventh Forms, an Embryo learns their two ultimate skills, ones that involve their name. Mine would start with 'Iustitia' and then have the rest of the attack name after that. They are the pinnacle of an Embryo's existence and a symbol of their pride."

"Wow…OK, I really like the sound of that." I nodded. "I'll definitely try to get you that far, Iustitia."

"Thank you, Master!" my Embryo hugged me. "Now we'd better find a place for you to practice with the sword so you can earn a Job."

 **Yo. Been a while in this ficlet collection, hasn't it? This is taking inspiration from a Light Novel called Infinite Dendrogram, which I would highly advise that you check out. Amazon has it, at least in Britain. As with all of my Gamer-esque ficlets, I'll leave the Power Ranking as Shaker/Trump 10.**


	79. Justice for All Chapter 2

**Justice for All Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

 _Abandoned Warehouse, Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

Swish!

"Ninety-seven!"

Swish!

"Ninety-eight!"

Swish!

"Ninety-nine!"

Swish!

"One-hundred!"

I sagged down panting after that last swing. Iustitia had been counting out the swings for me so I didn't have to waste oxygen on doing so myself. Swinging a sword the length of a ten-year-old one-handedly might not sound like much, but the repetitive motions of doing so were sore as hell on my poor muscles.

On the bright side, I got two extra points of Strength and Endurance each from my efforts.

Iustitia changed into her Maiden form and smiled at me. "Congratulations master. You've levelled up and gotten access to the Job Dendrogram."

"The what now?" I panted weakly. Damn, I was going to need to start exercising more.

"Basically, the Job Tree." My partner explained. "You unlock jobs based on your actions, your equipment and the weapons you use. Furthermore, the Jobs are divided into Low-Rank Jobs, High-Rank Jobs and Superior Jobs. Anyone can acquire Low-Rank Jobs, and you can have up to six of those equipped, each capping out at Level Fifty. Mid-Rank Jobs are harder, as they require you to perform certain actions, have certain jobs already equipped and to have defeated certain enemies. Harder, but not overly so, so you can have up to three equipped. Superior Jobs are _insanely_ difficult to acquire, but have almost Legendary-level stat bonuses and skills. Superior Jobs are so powerful that you can only have two equipped at any one time."

"Whoa…" I said, somewhat recovered from my exertions. "So, how many jobs can I take now?"

"Only the one, as you only levelled up once." Iustitia answered. "But the next time you level up, you can choose another job, so you can level up more frequently, although I'd advise reaching level twenty in a job before trying to acquire a second one."

"He who tries to be strong everywhere is strong nowhere." I quoted. Mom had had a bunch of translations of philosophers, including Seneca the Younger. I liked them, go away.

"Exactly, Master." Iustitia agreed. "Now, choose your Job."

Smiling, I reached inside my hoodie and pulled out a flip-mirror I'd found in a second-hand shop. It had been donated because it had a scratch across the cover, which I thought was just wasteful. It was still perfectly good for its intended purpose. Humans were so wasteful sometimes.

Flipping it open, I ran a finger down it and waited as my status screen appeared. Following Iustitia's instructions, I tapped the 'Job' name and a new set of words appeared.

 **Available Jobs:**

 **\- Fighter**

 **\- Soldier**

 **\- Swordsman**

 **\- Duellist**

 **\- Academic**

I raised my eyebrows at the last one. That was probably from my status as a student at Winslow.

"You have a good selection." Iustitia remarked as I read them out. "I would advise against Duellist; they use thinner, lighter blades than my First Form. Fighter…that's more of a 'specialist in everything, master of none' job that isn't really useful for getting other jobs. Soldier will be useful once I gain other forms, but as you only have my First Form available, I would say Swordsman would be the best bet for you."

I agreed with her reasoning, so selected the Swordsman job.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **You acquired the [Sword Mastery] Passive Skill!**

 **You have levelled up!**

 **You are now a Swordsman (LV1)**

 **You gain +50 HP!**

 **You gain +500 Stamina!**

 **You gain +5 Strength!**

 **You gain +5 Toughness!**

 **You gain +5 Endurance!**

 **You gain the [Blade Charge] Skill!**

 **You gain the [Swordsman's Eye] Skill!**

 **You gain the [First Health Boost] Passive Skill!**

The pain that was in my body washed away as the new job locked into place. Whew! What a rush! I checked my status again and smiled.

 **Name:** **Taylor Hebert**

 **Gender:** **Female**

 **Level:** **1**

 **Title:** **None**

 **Job (s):** **(1) Swordsman (LV1)**

 **EXP:** **13/150**

 **Embryo:** **Maiden of Justice Iustitia**

 **Embryo Type:** **Maiden with Arms**

 **Embryo Forms Achieved:** **1/7**

 **Stats**

 **HP: 250**

 **STA: 1500**

 **MP: 155**

 **Strength: 17**

 **Toughness: 15**

 **Endurance: 17**

 **Intelligence: 20**

 **Wisdom: 15**

 **Luck: ?**

I frowned, as something didn't look right here…oh yeah, my HP was too high. Maybe it was one of my new skills?

As it turned out, I was right. **[Blade Charge]** was a Swordsman's basic Attack Skill that was a powerful stab, while **[Swordsman's Eye]** allowed me to predict the movements of my enemies slightly, currently at a couple of seconds in advance. **[First Health Boost]** did exactly what it said on the tin and boosted my HP by fifty. It was a skill that levelled up as my Swordsman Job did, so the boost would increase over time.

"Well Master, this is looking promising." Iustitia said, clearly pleased. "Do you want to try out your new skills?"

I thought it was a good idea, so I did. Iustitia changed back into the Sword and Scales of Justice and I grabbed her two forms. The Sword was what I channelled **[Justice is Blind]** through and the Scales are for **[Balance the Scales]**.

"So, how do I use **[Blade Charge]**?" I asked my Embryo.

"Simply mentally designate a target and utter the name." she answered. "With practice, you will be able to just think the name in order to use it."

A target…right. I looked around the warehouse and spotted a barrel that was lying on its side. Righting it, I double-checked that it was empty before taking a ready stance a couple of meters away.

" **[Blade Charge]!** " I said firmly as I mentally designated the old barrel as a target. I found myself leaping forwards, my blade drawn back. When I came within striking range of the barrel, the Sword of Justice shot out and pierced through the barrel's centre.

"Christ." I said as I pulled my sword out of the barrel. "No _way_ can I use this against people unless they're a regenerator."

"I see your point, but what of the one you call Hookwolf? He would resist it quite well." Iustitia pointed out.

I blanched. "I really hope I don't run into _him_ for a good long while, Iustitia. Hookwolf's only avoided a Kill Order because he's had _other people_ rein him in before he goes too far. He's vicious and ruthless."

Seriously, the man was an ex-pit fighter who could change into animals made of steel covered in hooks. Until I was Level 100 _at least_ , I didn't want to get close to him. Or Stormtiger. Or Kaiser. Or…Ok, most of the higher-ranked members of the E88. And Lung. And Oni Lee.

Urgh. Why did Brockton Bay have so many damned villains?

"Master, we had better start heading home." My Embryo said. "It's almost six."

"Crap." Dad was due home late today, but I still had dinner to make. Maybe I should order takeout?

Returning Iustitia to my Crest, I pulled on my gloves so no one would see it. My Embryo didn't like it much, but that was life.

Walking back home, I noticed that familiar prickle of my [Danger Sense] skill acting up. Looking around, I could see that the streets were almost deserted. What the hell? It's almost never like this in the Bay, especially not at this time!

' _Master, ahead!_ ' Iustitia called out in my mind. My eyes snapped towards the front from their roving and I saw…

…a multi-coloured hooded robe? What the hell?

"Hello there, young girl." A male voice said from the robe. It wasn't a robe, now I came to look at it properly. It was a man wearing a robe. He turned around and I saw the half-face mask he was wearing. Oh hell. A Cape!

"Who are you?" I asked. "What's going on?"

I was sweating, but ready to fight if needed.

"I? I am merely an actor on the stage of life." The masked man bowed. "But if you wish for a label for this _dramatis persona_ , then do call me Hamelin."

My mind kicked up at that. Some Capes chose names that matched their powers, while others didn't. Armsmaster was rumoured to have picked his name out of a hat. In this case though, I had a feeling that this guy had chosen this name for a reason.

"As in the Pied Piper of Hamelin?" I asked for confirmation.

"Ah, so you know of it. Lovely." Hamelin chuckled and reached into the sleeve of his robe, drawing out a flute. "Enter the world of Hamelin, child, and grow."

Before I could do anything, he put his flute to his lips and played a quick three notes. A yellow cage snapped into place around me once the notes were finished.

"What the…?!"

Hamelin then played several longer notes and I was swallowed up by darkness. I was floating, somehow, and then I was landing on my butt as the darkness receded.

"Ow!" I said automatically. Looking around, I saw that I seemed to be in a tunnel made from a natural cave of some kind. Had I been teleported somewhere? Mover/Shaker rating there. Definitely a Shaker rating for the energy cage.

"Master, are you OK?!" Iustitia asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Iustitia." I said, getting up and dusting my butt off. "Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know…" the Maiden of Justice answered.

"Well, if his name is anything to go by, we are either somewhere he's prepared beforehand on Earth Bet, or we're in a pocket dimension he controls." I theorised.

"Oh…the Pied Piper of Hamelin…I see." Iustitia said in realisation.

The Pied Piper had taken an infestation of rats from the town of Hamelin and then drowned them in a river. When the town refused to pay him, he had taken all of their children into an opening in a mountain, never to be seen again. If he had named himself Hamelin based on that last portion of the legend, it would make sense, not to mention the musical component he seemed to need to activate it.

If he did need the music to activate it. For all I knew it could just be a prop. Anyway, the important thing to do was to find a way out of here. Sitting on my ass in this kind of situation wasn't going to get me anywhere.

"Should I come out, Master?" Iustitia asked.

"Not yet." I replied. "If there's no reason for you to, say in my Crest. Last thing we need is to advertise the fact I'm a Cape to anyone else here. Without a good enough reason."

"Will there be other people here, Master?" the Maiden of Justice asked.

"In the original tale, the Pied Piper took every child aside from three from a town. A hundred and thirty of them." I informed her in a low voice as I went left and started walking. "Also I doubt that he started with me. The streets were deserted for a while before he found me. I'd guess that he's been hunting kids for a while."

After all, why would he go out of his way to capture me? My Dad was only important as the Union Representative of the Dockworker's Association, and that was pretty much it. As one of a series of seemingly unrelated kidnapping though? That made a lot more sense.

We were both silent for a while as I walked through the tunnels. They were seemingly without end and just as deserted as the Boat Graveyard. It had been…ten minutes or so since I had arrived when I heard the sound of something large running in my direction.

"Iustitia, be ready to deploy into First Form." I said tensely.

"At your command."

Seconds later, out of the darkness came a monster of a rat. It was the size of a Labrador at least and had foam frothing from its mouth. And, had I forgotten to mention that it was charging at me like a bat out of hell?

"Now!" I ordered and in a flash, Iustitia's Sword and Scales of Justice were in my hands. I held up the scales.

" **[Balance the Scales]!** " I ordered and the scales shifted. They went off-balance for a moment before snapping back into a level balance. A wave erupted from me that struck the giant rat. It stumbled for a moment before resuming its charge, but I could tell that it was having more trouble moving than before.

Raising Iustitia's sword form, I then said, " **[Blade Charge]!** "

Exactly the same as last time, I leapt forward smoothly and buried my sword into the gut of the rat, which had reared up to try to claw me. I reacted on automatic and twisted the sword around, ripping it out through the side of the monster's chest before leaping back.

The giant rat keened loudly before falling to the ground and twitching for a moment and falling still.

 **[Victory!]**

 **You have defeated a Giant Rat of Hamelin (LV3)! You earn 75 EXP!**

"Whew…" I sighed before shuddering at the sight of the corpse before me.

"Master, tap me on the head of the beast." Iustitia said. "I'll gather your loot for you."

Nodding, I gingerly tapped the tip of Iustitia's sword form on the head of the rat. It glowed for a moment before vanishing, along with the blood on the Sword of Justice.

 **Loot from Giant Rat of Hamelin:**

 **\- [Rat Fur Half-Face Mask]**

 **\- $10.00**

"Iustitia…?" I said slowly.

"I can…influence what you get as loot a bit if you do the tap-method." She admitted. "You need a costume, a mask at the very least, so I...tweaked the drop."

"That's…actually good." I said with a sigh. "Just…next time, a bit of warning, ok?"

"Yes, Master." Iustitia promised.

Sighing again, I pulled my mirror out and scrolled through my screens until I found the inventory. I had a look at the mask.

 **[Rat Fur Half-Face Mask]**

 **A basic mask made of rat fur. Conceals the user's identity at a glance. Adds +1 to all damage.**

It was basic, but I'd take what I could get. Equipping it was as easy as the push of a button. It was nice and soft on my face, which was something, and it looked good on me too.

Grinning, I returned Iustitia to my Crest and continued down the tunnel.

I killed another Giant Rat and levelled up to a Level 2 Swordsman, which gave me stat boosts similar to my first level, sans the Stamina, but apparently that only came every ten levels. Skills were similar, coming every so often dependent on what they did. I was almost certain to get another Attack Skill at Level 3, so that was something to look forward to.

"Seriously, is this _entire place_ one long tunnel?" I complained as I tapped another dead Giant Rat to retrieve the loot it held. By this point, I'd earned $30 and a cowled cape of rat fur. It was grey rat fur and 'raised the level of the **[Cameleoline]** skill' (basically giving me the skill while I was wearing it to boot), allowing me to fade into the background if I wasn't moving, so long as I was wearing it with the hood up. Once I earned enough EXP in the skill, it would go up to Level 2, meaning I'd have learned it at Level 1.

I love gaming the system.

This time, I got some [Rat Skin Leather Armour]. It added armour to my arms and chest, which was nice. A few of those talons had come a little too close for comfort.

"Master, I think you should have a rest." Iustitia said worriedly. "You're down to barely five hundred Stamina."

"OK." I decided that it wouldn't do me any good to be exhausted if a rat came up to me while I was out of Stamina, so I followed her advice. I sat down, pulled my hood up and wrapped my cloak around me as I rested and regenerated my Stamina.

I stilled even more as I heard voices, the first human voices in a good half-hour. They were a mix of male and female, a group of them.

"-I'm telling you this place is a giant loop!" one male voice insisted.

"Clock, that's unlikely." Another, younger male voice countered.

"Why, Kid? We got zapped here, wherever 'here' is, by a weirdo doing a _Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat_ impression and you really think that a tunnel in a donut shape is unlikely?" 'Clock' countered.

"How would this place've been built then?" 'Kid' challenged. "The walls haven't any sign of a doorway of any sort, nor are any of them curved horizontally. It makes no sense for this place to be a 'giant donut' Clock."

"Urgh, can you two please be quiet?" a younger still female voice groaned. "Your argument about this is stupid."

"Sorry, Vista." Kid apologised.

Holy shit. The Wards. Hamelin had kidnapped the fucking _Protectorate Wards!_

The sound of feet stopped at vista's order. "Wait. I can sense someone here."

"What are you, Spiderman now?" Clock asked sceptically.

I could barely see the petit form of Vista at the head of the Wards. Gallant, Clockblocker, Kid Win and Aegis. No sign of former vigilante Shadow Stalker though.

"My powers are Manton Limited, Clock." The Shaker retorted. "If I can't use them, it means organic matter is presence, something other than moss."

"Oh."

"I can sense someone too." The large armoured form of Gallant spoke up. "Whoever it is, they're human and not hostile."

"Excuse me, could you come out?" Aegis asked politely. "We're the ENE Wards."

Well hell.

' _Iustitia, only speak telepathically to me unless I order you aloud._ ' I sent to her.

' _Understood, Master._ '

Letting out a deep breath, I stood up, making the Wards jump in surprise. To them, it must have looked like I melted out of the wall.

"Holy-!"

"Clockblocker!"

"His name is Hamelin, Clockblocker." I informed him. "As in the Pied Piper of Hamelin."

Kid Win palmed his mask. "Of course. That explains the flute. Urgh, I'm an idiot."

Gallant nodded to me. "Nice to meet you…?"

"Call me…Justitia." I said with a small smile. "How long have you guys been here?"

"About two hours." Aegis answered. "We've been walking for most of that."

"Find any giant rats?"

"Nooooo…why, have you?" Clockblocker asked.

"Three of them the size of Labradors that tried to eat my face." I answered.

Vista's face, the parts I could see anyway, blanched. "Christ."

"Tell me about it." I grumbled. "I've only been here for about half an hour. Aren't you missing someone?"

"Stalker was on Console Duty today." Kid Win said. "We were on a visit to a mall when this Hamelin guy walks up, plays a flute and the next thing we know, here we are."

"Were any of the Protectorate around?" I asked with a frown.

"Only Battery and a couple of PRT Troopers." Vista answered.

"Still, how'd he get away from her?" I wondered.

"Less important than finding our way out of here." Aegis interrupted. "Justitia, care to join us to break out of this place?"

"Um…sure." I nodded. "I just came from over there though, so we'd have to walk half an hour just to arrive at where I came in."

I nodded in the direction the Wards had been walking to make my point.

"Well, we've covered everything back there for the last two hours, so your old direction's a better one than ours." Clockblocker shrugged.

"OK." I shrugged before walking over to them.

"Just to know, what's your power, aside from your Stranger power?" Aegis asked.

"It's a power Trumped into the cloak, actually." I corrected. "My actual power is...well…Iustitia, First Form."

"Yes Mistress." My Embryo answered and the Sword and Scales of Justice appeared in my hands.

"Whoa…!" Vista gave the impression that her eyes were wide open, despite the opaque visor she wore.

"Nice." Clockblocker said appreciatively.

"That…" Gallant sounded as if he were frowning. "I can sense _emotions_ from them."

I blinked. "You're an empath?"

"Be a bit hard to choose my emotional blasts if I wasn't." he answered.

"Oh. Makes sense." I nodded. "OK then…Iustitia, Maiden Form."

"Yes, Master."

In a flash, the little Maiden of Justice was standing next to me. "Greetings. I am Mistress Justitia's Embryo, Maiden of Justice Iustitia."

There was silence at this. Then Vista glomped Iustitia. "So cute!"

"Does she do that a lot?" I asked in bemusement.

"Any time anything adorable, fluffy or cute is involved." Aegis answered dryly. "So…Master?"

"Master/Shaker/Trump." I corrected him. "She gives me the ability to quantify and improve my physical and mental abilities in numeric form."

"Wait…like an RPG?" Kid Win looked at me sounding shocked.

"Basically." I confirmed. Then, I froze as I heard the sound of running clawed feet. "Iustitia, First Form!"

In a flash, my sword was back in my hand. And I turned to see a Giant Rat charging towards me.

"God!" Vista sounded disgusted.

"What the hell?!" Kid Win pulled a laser pistol from somewhere.

"I'll handle it." I said and held up the scales. " **[Balance the Scales]!** "

Once again, the scales shifted and then rebalanced. The by-now familiar wave of energy washed out of the instrument and struck the rat, making it stumble for a moment, more than long enough for me to dash in and use **[Blade Charge]** to deal a critical blow to it before stabbing it a couple more times to finish it off.

"Oh god…!" Vista started heaving behind me. Dammit. Poor kid.

I quickly tapped the tip of Iustitia's sword on the head of the rat, making it and the pooling blood vanish.

"You're pretty hardcore, you know that?" Clockblocker said mildly.

"They're either projections or bio mutants created by Hamelin." I said with a sigh. "In either case, killing them is needed. They won't stop their attack unless you put them down for good."

"Noted." Kid Win gulped, but snapped a switch on the side of his laser pistol. "Lethal node online."

"I thought Armsmaster had to authorise that?" Gallant asked nervously.

"Our link to the Console is gone." The young Tinker shrugged. "Armsmaster set things so if that happened without a signal from him beforehand, I could access the lethal mode."

Damn. No reinforcements from the Protectorate then.

We all started walking down the tunnel in silence before Aegis spoke up again.

"Justitia, what was that ability you used against that rat?"

"It's…well, a Shaker power that lowers the physical abilities of all enemies within ten meters to match my own." I answered. "Or raise them."

"Huh?"

"The name of the power is **[Balance the Scales]**. That means the power's purpose is to equalise the abilities, the physical ones at least, between me and my enemies." I explained. "Either they get _lowered_ to my level if they're _stronger_ than me, or they get _raised up_ to my level is they're _weaker_ than me."

"That's…pretty scary." Clockblocker remarked. "What kind of tests have you done with it?"

"None. I've only used it four times, including just a moment ago." I answered. "Heck, I wasn't even in costume when Hamelin up and kidnapped me. I've only been practicing my power for a day."

"Holy fuck." Aegis swore. "This guy's breaking the Unwritten Rules, going after a Cape out of costume like that!"

"I'm more worried about what him going after us in particular means." I said with a frown.

"Whaddya mean?" Clockblocker asked in confusion.

"This guy's modelled himself after the Pied Piper. That means he goes after kids. _And_ for whatever reason everyone he's gone after is a Cape." I stated. "Following that logically, he could be going after Shadow Stalker, Glory Girl, Panacea, Shielder and maybe Laserdream too."

"Aw fuck!" Gallant groaned. "We should have thought of that."

"Triumph isn't here and he's twenty or so." Aegis said thoughtfully. "I think that eighteen's the limit of this guy's criteria. Laserdream should be safe as she just turned nineteen not long ago."

"Any other teen Capes in the Bay?" I asked.

"Parian the Rogue Cape, Rune from the Empire and the entirety of the Undersiders." Kid Win volunteered. "Unless any more fresh Triggers like you are targeted, Justitia, that should be everyone from the Bay that could be or come here."

"Great. A pacifist, a Hitler Youth girl and the Masters of Escape." Clockblocker shook his head. "Not useful to get out of this place."

"It isn't like a healer, shadow-Breaker, Alexandria-type and a forcefield user are going to do much either." Vista pointed out.

Then the sound of a female roaring in fury could be heard echoing down the tunnel to the Wards and I. One by one, all of the others turned to look at Gallant, who slapped a palm to his faceplate.

"Vicky!"

 **Heh.**


	80. Justice for All Chapter 3

**Justice for All Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

After the identity of the raging girl was confirmed to be Glory Girl, we started to run towards the sound of her voice. As we drew closer, the sound of punches became evident as well.

"She must be under attack by those giant rats." I commented.

"That wouldn't make her angry." Gallant countered. "Shit, something must have happened to Panacea!"

Abruptly, the tunnel ended and widened into a cavern. On one side of it was a girl dressed in a white princess-like outfit with a short skirt, a tiara and a cape. Slumped against the wall behind her was a shorter figure in a white costume with a red cross on it. It was also stained with blood.

Surrounding the two Dallon sisters were several large rats. There were also the pulverised remains of more giant rats that had been beaten into submission by the Alexandria-type before we arrived.

"Shit, I _hate_ being right." The armoured empath growled. "Kid, Justitia, go!"

Not needing any encouragement, Kid Win and I charged in and Iustitia silently redeployed into her Sword and Scales form. The Tinker on his hoverboard fired several blasts from his laser pistol that killed at one giant rat and wounded a couple more.

" **[Balance the Scales]!** " I ordered. The blast of light from my scales struck every giant rat nigh simultaneously before I used **[Blade Charge]** to slice into an injured rat and then whirl and behead another.

With a whoop of relief at the reinforcements, Glory Girl started punching more enthusiastically at her enemies. Between the three of us, the floor of the cavern was soon covered in the dead bodies of the rat.

"Sis!" the flying girl swept down to kneel next to who I had to assume was Panacea.

"Vicky, what happened?" Gallant asked as he ran over.

"This robed bastard showed up while I was picking Amy up from the hospital and sent us here, wherever _here_ is, with a flute." The blond girl snarled. "That was about ten minutes ago. We got ambushed by those mutant rat things just a few minutes ago. She got bit on the shoulder by one of them before I tore it off."

I walked over and knelt next to her and peered at the wound on the world's greatest healer. It was pretty bad. "She's losing too much blood. Iustitia, Maiden Form. Use **[The People's Welfare is Supreme]**."

"Yes Mistress." My Embryo transformed into her form as a little girl, although I noticed she looked to have aged a couple of years. She clasped her hands, bowed her head and started glowing white.

"What the…?" Glory Girl stepped forwards, but stopped when Aegis raised a hand.

"Justitia, what's your projection doing?" he asked calmly.

"It's one of Iustitia's abilities. **[The People's Welfare is Supreme]** is a healing power that heals everyone within a couple of meters of her. It's slow going though." I answered. Something I left out was that it was slowly draining my Stamina gauge in order to work. If it depleted fully, I'd be knocked out. Fortunately, I'd levelled up during that fight, so my Stamina had shot back up to full. I should have enough to heal Panacea.

"Whoa…it's working." Clockblocker said, pointing as the wound on the healer's shoulder slowly sealed itself shut.

"Seriously? From nothing?" Kid Win said, clearly in awe.

"It isn't from nothing." Iustitia spoke up. "My Mistress is transferring her stamina to me in order to supply energy for my skill. She will barely be able to move once I have finished healing her."

I winced. "Iustitia…no giving away my powers without permission."

"They had to know, Mistress."

Stubborn little…

"So she's using her own energy up to heal people…OK then. That makes a bit more sense." The Tinker nodded, seemingly happy that I wasn't _totally_ abusing the Law of Conservation of Mass.

"Will you be able to walk after your projection is finished healing?" Aegis asked.

"Her name is Iustitia. Use it." I told him flatly as I sat against the wall and wrapped my cloak around me, vanishing from their sight. "To answer your question, yes, but if you want me to be more than baggage, let me rest for a while after she's finished."

"You have a sword projection that changes into a little girl that heals AND a Stranger power that lets you vanish from sight?" Glory Girl raised an eyebrow. "Who the heck are you?"

"Justitia, a newly Triggered Parahuman who was kidnapped out of costume by Hamelin. Nice to meet you, Glory Girl." I said flippantly. "You two are the newest members of the Hamelin Kidnapped Persons Association, so what's been happening since the Wards and I got sent here?"

A lot, it seemed. Apparently, Hamelin had slipped the noose that the PRT and Protectorate had tried to throw around him after he zapped the Wards. After the point that I had gone missing (unknown to Glory Girl), Hamelin had let Velocity on a merry chase through the Docks, having a power that let him outpace anyone who chased him. Seriously, he was one hell of a grab bag Cape, as in he grabbed the bag and ran with it!

The Wards then filled her in on everything that had happened to them since they had entered Hamelin's World, or so Clockblocker called it.

"Uuuuhhh….Vicky?" a groggy voice groaned as Iustitia's healing light vanished. Panacea was awake.

"Ames!" Vicky beamed and I could feel her aura pushing onto my mind.

"Vicky, aura." Gallant said in a way that told me he'd done it a dozen times before.

"Oops." Glory Girl winced and the pressure on my mind vanished.

After Amy Dallon was caught up to speed and introduced to me, we rested for a quarter of an hour (thank god for Kid Win's visor-mounted clock) before continuing on.

"Soo…what's with the odd power?" Glory Girl asked bluntly as we walked…well, I walked, she floated. Stupid flying types.

"My Mistress received me as a power because of the path she sought." Iustitia answered for me.

"I don't follow." The famously called 'Alexandria Junior' said with a tilt of her head.

"My Mistress knows _exactly_ who is responsible for torturing her into Triggering." My Embryo revealed. "Were she a lesser person she would have asked for vengeance. If that was the case, my name would have been Nemesis, Maiden of Retribution. If she were a more cowardly person, I would be Pax, Maiden of Peace. If she was a short-sighted person, I would be Maat, Maiden of Truth. My Mistress rose above all of those and had the desire for Justice over Vengeance, for action over inaction and for results instead of words. I lived in her head for a month, Glory Girl, and I know all she knows. I know who my partner is as a person on a level even she does not and I am more proud of her than I can put in to words, because she chose the higher path."

There was silence as the Wards and the younger generation of New Wave digested this.

"And she's a part of your power?" Panacea asked in disbelief.

"I've only had her awake for a day." I defended. "I haven't had time to get her to not drop conversational nukes like that."

"So wait…you really were plainclothes when you were kidnapped?" Glory Girl frowned. "Where'd the costume come from then?"

"Part of my power is kinda similar to an MMORPG." I admitted. "I have levels, jobs and stats. I also get loot from defeated enemies. I have no idea if I have to kill them to get loot or not, but I don't think so. Anyway, I collect it by tapping the corpses with Iustitia's sword form. She altered it so I'd get a costume out of it. Two seconds…"

I pulled out my mirror and ran through the screens to equip my new [Rat Skin Leather Boots], [Rat Skin Breeches] and [Rat Skin Belt]. This completed the set for me and granted me slightly increased stats while I wore the whole set.

"Shit on a stick."

"Vicky!" Panacea scolded on reflex.

"Let the loot come naturally from here on out, Iustitia." I told my partner. "Unless it's bones and skin and stuff."

"Roger that, Mistress." Iustitia nodded.

"Can you lay off the Mistress thing? It feels weird to hear a twelve-year old call me that." I said with a sigh.

"You are my Mistress, Mistress."

I face-masked.

"Seriously, how big is this place?" Vista complained after five more minutes. "I mean, I think that Justitia's right and this place is a dimensional pocket of some sort, but how can one Parahuman maintain such a large space like this? It's nuts! He'd have to be stronger than Eidolon to do this!"

"I haven't a clue." Aegis admitted. "Kid, insights?"

"I'm just as stumped. Dimensional stuff isn't my specialty…hell, I don't know _what_ my specialty is, but it isn't dimensional manipulation." The young Tinker answered.

"It could have already existed." I said hesitantly.

"What?" Clockblocker asked sceptically.

"No, listen. If the pocket already existed in some way _before_ Hamelin triggered, it could be that all he's doing is linking with it with his powers and altering the insides to suit his whimsy." I said. "Considering how many Tinkers have been alive, there has had to have been at least one who specialised in dimensional theory alive at some point."

"Ten that we know of." Kid Win stated slowly. "About another fifteen others worldwide that were suspected of it before either dying or being Zized."

"That isn't including any other Parahumans who could have created this with…I dunno, a Shaker effect?" Vista chipped in. Judging from the body language and the way she looked at me, she was impressed.

"Okay, so …just to be clear here, he isn't a godlike Cape, merely one who is insanely powerful enough to manipulate a dimensional pocket of this size?" Clockblocker sighed. "You really haven't lowered the bar by much."

"Suck it up." I answered. "We're going to have to confront this guy in order to get out of here in all likelihood, so stop making demons in your mind about him and start walking."

"Jeez, you're as big a hardass as Halbeard." He complained.

"That's Armsmaster, not Halbeard." Aegis said in a censuring tone.

"Yeah, yeah, it isn't as if he's here to hear me…"

"Is he always like this?" I asked Panacea in a bit of disbelief.

"No…ordinarily he takes one piece of _possible_ innuendo and runs with it all day until he's flogged a dead horse until it's mince." The healer replied dryly.

"I resent that!"

"So…he gets _worse_?!" I shudder to think of the possibility.

"Oi!

"Oh yes. Then Vista has to spatially slap him into submission."

" _ **Oi!**_ Ow!"

"Just like that, actually."

I had to admit, seeing the Wards as themselves rather than the posing heroic figures on TV and at press conferences was…nice. Odd, but nice. It made them real people rather than caricatures that were popped out by the PR Department of the PRT.

The air turned tense again when a female scream, this time one of pain, rent the air. I didn't recognise the source, nor did anyone around me, but we all sped up into a run as soon as we heard it.

At the end of the tunnel was the entryway into a large cavern. Wide enough that the bay of Brockton Bay could have fitted into it comfortably, with room to spare, and high enough to fit the Capitol Building from spire to lowermost foundation. Dotted about the place were the remains of buildings of all types; wooden cabins, corrugated iron warehouses, brick houses and even what looked like the toppled remains of a high-rise apartment building. In around about the centre were four crosses with figures tied to them. Floating around the surface of the cavern were several screens of some sort, each the size of the trailer of an eighteen-wheeler, all of which displayed several locations that I recognised in the Bay, as well as the John Hancock Tower in Boston, and Independence Hall, Philadelphia.

"Ohhhhh…so _that's_ how he does it." I breathed, understanding what was going on.

"Care to share with the class?" Clockblocker asked in a whisper.

"Those screens are Tinkertech, aren't they?" I hissed. "I'll just _bet_ that they let Hamelin teleport to anywhere that he has a picture of loaded into them, as well as back here."

"Teleport isn't the right word." Kid Win corrected me. "Dimensionally shift would be the better term. But I agree. That's also how he got us into this…place…in the first place. He had us spread around so we'd be easier to pick off at his leisure, but apparently he forgot about Vista's space bending abilities. That let us travel faster than normal."

"Well, not many people outside of the PRT and Protectorate know exactly how powerful my Shaker abilities are, Kid." Vista said, with a shrug. "He could have taken my public profile as gospel."

Gallant, who had been silent up until this point, suddenly cursed. "Damn. The Undersiders've been crucified."

"What?!" I squeaked.

"Oh, not with nails and the like, but they _are_ hanging by their wrists from those crosses." The armoured hero said grimly. "Looks like someone kicked the crap out of them first too."

"Who _are_ the Undersiders anyway?" I asked. "New kid on the block here."

"A gang of teenagers, we think and this confirms it." Aegis explained. "Hellhound, Tattletale, Grue and Regent. They're villains, but they're small timers. Robberies, hit and run style. That's pretty much all they've done. Pretty low priority compared to the big three gangs of the Bay."

"They're out cold and look like they've been here for a while." Kid Win observed. It turned out both Gallant's armour and Kid's armour had a zoom function on their HUDs, which is why they could see so far into the cavern. "Think he went after them first?"

"Makes sense." Clockblocker said with nod. "None of them have any top tier powers. If he caught them off guard, they would've been zapped here before they could react. And if he made sure to exclude Hellhound's dogs, they would have been overwhelmed quickly by the rat monsters."

"But then…what brought them here?" I voiced the question that had been bugging me since Gallant had revealed their presence. "It would have taken quite some time to carry four teenagers, unconscious or not, here through the tunnels and tie them to those crosses. Unless Hamlin has other projections aside from those rats, he's been busy in the Bay for most of the day. I repeat, _how_ did they get here?"

"That's…yeah, that's a good point." Aegis nodded. "Clearly this Hamelin guy captured us for a reason, whatever it may be. I wonder if it's worth the Kill Order he's going to get for it."

"I hope they wait until we get out of here before they kill him." Kid Win said uneasily.

"Why?" Glory Girl asked in puzzlement.

"Because if he _has_ taken over someone else's dimensional pocket, then once he dies, it'll either pop out of existence completely or revert back to whatever it was before he took it over." The Tinker replied. "If it's the first, we will _probably_ die. If it's the latter...we might _wish_ we were dead. We could be absorbed into the structure of the dimension, still alive. Not pleasant."

"On that cheerful note, let's find a way out." I remarked dryly, surprising a laugh out of some of the queasy Wards. We snuck into the cavern after that. It wasn't easy given the complete lack of cover aside from the sparse and widely dispersed buildings and none of us wanted to give them any chance to possibly collapse on us.

"Look at that one!" Vista hissed, pointing at one giant screen in particular. It was displaying the inside of a building…and it was also moving.

"A livestream of Hamelin's point of view?" I frowned. How on earth…?

"Oh crap…that's the Wards base under the PRT building!" Aegis cursed. "He's going after Shadow Stalker!"

"Would she be there?" I asked with a jolt of shock. Going after the Wards in broad daylight was one thing, but attacking the PRT building itself was an insane risk.

"Maybe. It _is_ staffed by PRT troopers, and she'll have a guard on her with both us and the two most active members of New Wave being zapped away like we have." Gallant answered. "Only safer place would be the Rig in the bay. No lone Parahuman would be stupid enough to attack the Rig when it has all of Armsmaster's Tinker defences and the rest of the Protectorate on standby."

"Just like no lone Parahuman would dare kidnap the Wards and seven other teenaged Capes in the space of a single day?" Clockblocker asked pointedly. "Whoever Hamelin is, he's ballsy. He does what no one expects because it would be foolish, and yet he manages to do it. That moment of surprise is what took everyone here off guard and let him teleport -sorry, 'dimensionally shift'- us here."

"Actually, he caged me before shifting me here." I countered. "If he hadn't, I would have attacked him or run. Maybe…that's it! Maybe he can only 'shift' someone if they're standing still? Or relatively still at least."

"Doing shifting on a moving target _would_ be hideously complex. Or at least, targets moving outside of a predetermined series of coordinates." Kid Win agreed, his voice a bit distant as he stared into space. "With us, he had stationary targets, ditto for Glory Girl and Panacea. With you, he must have sensed you would have moved outside of the coordinates he'd input beforehand, so he threw up a cage to keep you contained, or at least…it could have been a cage…or even a soft light hologram to give you pause."

I froze at that before groaning in realisation. Hamelin had totally bluffed me, in all likelihood. I was feeling more than a little stupid for that. Urgh, tricked by a guy wearing a technicolour bedsheet. How embarrassing.

Setting aside my feelings of utter embarrassment, we made our way to the centre of the cavern and the four figures who were crucified there. Two were girls and two were boys. One was wearing a purple and black costume with a purple domino mask while another wore a frilly, ruffled shirt like you'd see at a renaissance faire along with a mask with a mocking smile on it. The third wore rough clothes along with a dime store dog mask, while the last wore motorbike leathers and had a helmet on over his own mask. The light wasn't good enough for me to see what the mask looked like, however.

All of them were ragged, with cuts in their costumes and bruising on their visible skin. Not wounds from the rats, as they leapt in head first with their maws open. No, they had been beaten down by something, some _one_ , with intelligence and the knowledge of where to hit to disable, but not kill.

I should know; the Bitch Trio had made a point of hitting me where it would hurt but not be visible. Aside from the bruises on the arms, from blocking punches and the like I guessed, there were no visible bruise marks at all, aside from where the costumes were ripped.

"Shit. Panacea, can you heal them up so they don't bleed all over the place once we have to get out of here?" Aegis asked quietly.

"I can." The healer nodded. "I don't usually heal someone unless I have their permission to do so, but these are _very_ extenuating circumstances."

Unfortunately, the Wards had no knives or anything with which to cut the ropes that bound the Undersiders to the crosses. Something about minors wielding knives being bad PR.

"And that's just one more reason I am _never_ joining the Protectorate." I snorted. "PR shouldn't take precedence over practicality."

In the end, Aegis flew me up and I cut the teen villains down, Glory Girl catching them one at a time and lowering them to the ground. Panacea quickly healed them and then moved to the next.

"Right, let's go." Gallant said firmly. He'd been keeping an eye on the monitor that showed Hamelin's current location and he was in the middle of chasing Shadow Stalker through the PRT building's corridors. The former vigilante was shooting at him with crossbow quarrels that bounced off of some sort of personal shielding that Hamelin had. Was he a Tinker, or did he know a Tinker?

We started to leave, only to hear the tell-tale sound of rats on the move, but there were a lot more of them than before. The sounds were coming from the tunnel on the other side of the cavern from us, but we wouldn't have much of a lead on them even if we booked it the whole way. Damn rats were fast bastards.

"Fuckburgers." Clockblocker said eloquently.

"Vista, get ready to twist space so we can run quickly." Aegis ordered. "Clock, you me and Glory Girl grab the Undersiders."

Tattletale and Regent were skinny enough that Glory Girl could grab both of them, while Aegis threw Hellhound over his shoulder and Clockblocker grabbed Grue.

With that, we started running like hell.

"Why're the rats coming now?!" Vista grunted as we fled towards the exit we had entered from.

"Dunno." I answered with a gasp. "At a guess? He had some kind of all alarm on the Undersiders' crosses that went off as soon as we removed the first of them. That probably sent the damn monsters towards us."

"Less talking, more running!" Glory Girl shouted. I noticed that Panacea was starting to flag, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me. Peeking over my shoulder, I saw a positive wave of the monsters emerging from the other tunnel. There had to be at least fifty of them and they all looked pissed as hell.

"Crap!" I cursed and added some extra speed into my feet from somewhere.

"They're going to catch us at this rate!" Kid called from his hoverboard.

"Make a stand in the tunnels!" I shouted back. "With the size of them, they should only be able to come at us a few at a time!"

"Sounds good. We'll do it after we enter the tunnels and run for a couple of minutes." Aegis said flatly.

Even with Vista's space bending abilities, that would only give us a little while to set up.

' _Iustitia, any ideas?_ '

' _Sadly no, master._ '

Well hell.

We ran until Aegis landed, then put the Undersiders, who were still unconscious, down and turned to face the direction that the giant rats were coming from.

"Justitia, can that Shaker power of yours affect as many rats as I think are coming at us?" Clockblocker asked nervously.

"It'll affect as many of them which are within ten meters of me the moment that I activate it." I answered steadily. "I also can't activate it again until all of the ones affected by it are either defeated or dead."

"Lovely. Well, just as long as they're all within ten meters of you, that's fine." The Wards' leader said with a nod. "Glory Girl, can you spot for her?"

"On it." The blond girl said and floated up. I deployed Iustitia in her sword and scales form and waited for the word to activate her power. In a manner of seconds, the sound of paws beating at the ground could be heard and the wave of giant rats could be seen charging at them in the distance.

"Kid, do you have any other weapons?" I asked steadily. "I kinda think that a pistol isn't going to cut it here."

"A rifle, but it isn't much more powerful than the pistol, and it doesn't have a lethal mode." The Tinker answered.

"Give it to Vista then. We need all the firepower we can get." I said as the ravening horde of rats drew closer.

"I found a Glock on Tattletale." Clockblocker volunteered. "Only one clip though."

"Use it sparingly." Gallant told him. "My emotional blasts won't work very well on the rats aside from the baser emotions, and no way am I gonna use anger on them. Heck, if they're projections, would my emotional blasts even _do_ anything to them?"

"Aside from the minor physical impact, squat." Aegis told the armoured hero. "Just use the armour to punch them. With the minor strength boost it gives you, it should do something."

Then they were almost upon us.

"Glory Girl…" I said with trepidation as the horde drew closer, only a few meters away.

"Not yet."

"Vicky, I think we can handle a few at full strength, so just give the all clear." Gallant said firmly.

"Spoilsport…OK, now!"

" **[Balance the Scales]!** " I shouted and the energy wave slammed into the incoming horde like a tsunami, weakening the rats down to my level of stats. That wasn't as bad as it had been a while back due to my level up, but it was enough that the Wards, plus Glory Girl, had a distinct physical advantage. Panacea kept back with the Undersiders and out of the line of fire.

Kid Win and Vista opened up with their laser weapons, with Kid Win's obviously being more effective, the red beams lancing out to strike various rats in the line, covering them with wounds. Yet still did they advance.

Gallant fired a blast of his own at one, but it did exactly nothing, just as Aegis predicted. Then Glory Girl and Aegis swooped in and started laying in to the horde of monsters. I joined them, swiping with my sword. I killed one and felt the warm tingling feeling that Iustitia informed me was the sign of a level up being stored until after combat.

The world turned into a whirling melee of sword, fang and claw. I was repeatedly thanking Iustitia in my mind for getting me my costume, as it prevented me from more than a few serious wounds from those blows I couldn't dodge or block in time. My **[Swordsman's Eye]** skill was also a lifesaver, as it gave me a few seconds of warning before the rats actually moved.

I must have killed five more rats before the rest broke and ran. There were at least twenty more on the ground, so the Wards, Glory Girl and I must have killed over half of the damn things.

Pulling my mirror out, I chose to level my [Swordsman] job again and then checked my stats.

 **Name:** **Taylor Hebert**

 **Cape** **Name:** **Justitia**

 **Gender:** **Female**

 **Level:** **4**

 **Title:** **None**

 **Job (s):** **(1) Swordsman (LV4)**

 **EXP:** **53/400**

 **Embryo:** **Maiden of Justice Iustitia**

 **Embryo Type:** **Maiden with Arms**

 **Embryo Forms Achieved:** **1/7**

 **Stats**

 **HP: 400**

 **STA: 1500**

 **MP: 155**

 **Strength: 32**

 **Toughness: 30**

 **Endurance: 32**

 **Intelligence: 20**

 **Wisdom: 15**

 **Luck: ?**

Additionally, I gained two more swordsman skills, **[Blade Sweep]** and **[Sword Arts Proficiency]**. The first was another generic basic attack skill of the swordsman and was a powerful horizontal cut, while the other added extra damage to every attack made with a sword, any type of sword. This was in addition to the **[Sword Mastery]** Passive skill, which did pretty much the same, but capped at level ten.

Still, we weren't out of the woods yet. Those rats had only retreated and were still lurking around somewhere. Plus, we still had no idea how to get out of here.

' _Life's_ _certainly interesting._ ' I thought with a chuckle before going to gather the loot from the dead rats.

 **OK, so you may have noticed that when I find a story I have some enthusiasm for, I write three chapters of it back-to-back. That was the case with my Shield Hero! Taylor and it's the case here with my Embryo! Taylor. Seriously, it gets irritating when I can't get a concept out of my head like this…**


	81. Justice for All Chapter 4

**Justice for All Chapter 4 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

In the aftermath of rescuing the Undersiders and then fighting off fifty giant rats, the Wards, Glory Girl, Panacea and I rested. Iustitia went around and touched the corpses of the giant rats, dropping the loot and cash into my inventory.

I was exhausted from the constant fighting, and a couple of the Wards didn't look much better, let alone the beaten to hell Undersiders. We were literally in enemy territory, beaten, tired and without supplies. Oh, and there was the constant threat of being attacked by giant rats too. Plus, whatever attacked the Undersiders.

"Panacea, is there anything you can tell us about why the Undersiders are unconscious?" Aegis suddenly asked.

The healer raised an eyebrow at him. "They were beaten unconscious."

"Yes, but is that everything?" the flier pressed. "Unusual brain activity, oddities in their vital signs…anything like that?"

Panacea sighed and touched Tattletale. "Huh…now that you mention it, Tattletale's Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma are both working overtime, far more than any Thinker I've healed before."

"What're you thinking, Aegis?" I asked, sitting up straight.

"None of this has made sense to me since you arrived." The leader of the Wards said with a frustrated sigh. "Going after the Wards is bad enough, but going after a Cape in her civilian identity? Going after Panacea? Alone, any one of those might get him Kill Order, but all three at once? If Director Piggot hasn't issued a request for one right now, I will be _very_ surprised."

" _Really_ hope it gets refused." Glory Girl muttered. "Hamelin might be the only way out of this hellhole."

"Right." Aegis nodded. "But as I say, the level of backlash on him for everything he's done makes this either the actions of an insane man or a planned strategy with a specific outcome. Justitia, you're the only person here who's actually talked to him. Did he seem unstable or insane?"

I considered that for a moment before shaking my head. "No, he seemed perfectly lucid and sane. Then again, so do Jack Slash and Bonesaw, reportedly."

The Capes around me shuddered at the mention of two of the most prolific serial killers in the world. Even I shuddered.

"So, with that as caveat, I'm going to assume that Hamelin is either as sane as the next man or good enough at aping sanity to make it indistinguishable." The Wards Leader stated. "There has to be a reason that he kidnapped us all, a reason he'd deliberately risk himself in order to do so. A purpose…like selling us to the CUI, for example."

"For the Yàngbǎn?!" Vista squeaked. Most of the rest of us paled. The feared members of the Chinese Union-Imperial Parahuman Military were infamous for being brainwashed, tortured and indoctrinated into serving their masters.

"It's a possibility." Gallant admitted. "The Yàngbǎn are known to prefer to get their hands on young Capes to allow them to mould them with their methods."

"But that doesn't explain why their Pollentia and Gemma are going nuts." Panacea frowned as she checked the other unconscious Undersiders. "I've read Mastered and Trumped Capes before and this is…totally unlike anything I've ever come across. The only one who comes close is Eidolon when he switches his powers out."

My mind made a connection and I gasped, my eyes wide. "Holy hell…!"

"Justitia…?" Gallant asked, probably feeling my churning emotions.

"Our powers…he wants to _take our powers_!" I choked out.

The horrified expressions on the faces of everyone around me made it clear that this was not a desired outcome.

"But…but there have only ever been power _suppressors_!" Glory Girl burst out, eyes wide with denial. "And even then, the effect's only lasted an hour at most per Cape!"

"Do you think Hamelin's some sort of power thief?" Kid Win asked seriously.

"No…not a _thief_ , exactly…" I said with a frown. "More like…a power _usurper_. Panacea, you said that their Pollentia and Gemma are all still active, right?"

"Right." The healer nodded. "They're working overtime, in fact."

"That proves it them." I nodded firmly. "His power…it _must_ be usurpation of the powers of other Parahumans."

"How do you figure?" Clockblocker asked doubtfully.

"Because he left the Undersiders alive." I answered, gesturing at the four villains. "Think about it; _why_ leave the original bearers alive if he completely stole their powers from them? That implies he _needs_ them alive. The same applies for why keep them in here if he's already taken what he wants from them? He has to keep them here."

"That…makes sense…but…" Aegis shook his head. "OK, assuming this guy's working according to your theory, what are his power's conditions for usurping a power?"

"Ummm…" I thought for a moment. "Well, this dimension is a big clue. It suggests that he needs a place that is absolutely under his control. The fact that the Undersiders were knocked out means that he had to defeat them in combat first. That in turn implies that the second condition is emerging victorious in a battle with the target whose power he wants to usurp. Then…then the fact that they're still here implies that he has to keep his victims here in order to maintain the usurpation…hey, is it me, or is Tattletale missing a chunk of hair?"

Vista blinked before looking at the head of the unconscious dirty-blond villainess. "Huh…you're right."

Indeed, Tattletale was missing a good chunk of her fringe. No self-respecting girl would go out without evening it out. Now that thought about it, Hellhound and Regent had chunks of hair missing too, and I could only presume the same was true for Grue.

"And there's the _last_ piece of the puzzle; he has to have a physical part of the people he's usurping powers from on his person to use them." I smirked. "I'm guessing they're hidden under his robe or even woven into it. It would explain why he has so many random-seeming powers; I'd bet that there's a room or cavern around here full of Parahumans he's usurping powers from."

"But we would have heard about teenage Capes going missing!" Clockblocker protested.

"Wards, yes. Protectorate Affiliated Heroes, yes. But Independent Heroes, Rogues and Villains?" Gallant shook his head slowly. "If an Indie or a Rogue went missing, the PRT would chalk it up to the Cape getting either forcibly recruited, dying or moving away and rebranding. If a teen villain went missing, it would be a relief. Targeting them would be far easier than the Wards or a Protectorate-affiliated team like New Wave."

Pulling a face, I shook my head at that attitude. "That is a _very_ stupid and short-sighted way of thinking about it. Before you say anything: this situation we're in now? Consider it Exhibit A."

Aegis had opened his mouth to argue, but his mouth slammed shut with a click at my point.

"Nice one." Clockblocker nodded with appreciation at me.

"OK, so we have the guy's power figured out, but what good does it do us?" Vista asked. "We're still trapped here with no way out!"

"The good it does us is that we've identified a weakness in Hamelin's powers, one that we can exploit." I answered the younger girl with a grin. "If we can find the place where he keeps his captives-slash-power sources, we can get him to come inside where we can hit him. I'd bet that he can get in here just as easily as he sent us here; he'd have to be able to do that in order to feed and care for the imprisoned Capes. If we can get our hands on Hamelin and remove the samples of hair he has on him, then we can disempower him and force him to get us out of here."

"I like this plan." Glory Girl grinned savagely as she smacked one fist into her open palm. I've wanted to pound this guy ever since Ames and I were trapped here, and _especially_ since I heard about him attacking Justitia in her civilian clothes!"

I was a bit startled by this until I remembered that a member of New Wave, Fleur, had been attacked in her own home out of costume and killed years ago. At a guess, I would say that New Wave feels really, really strongly about someone breaking the Unwritten Rules like that.

"Whoa there!" Kid Win threw up his hands in a calming gesture. "Shouldn't we, I dunno, _not_ piss off the insanely powerful Parahuman who's holding us captive here?"

"We're run ragged and exhausted, Kid." I pointed out. "I dunno about the rest of you, but I haven't eaten in a while and I've used a lot of energy up fighting. If we don't do something, we're going to starve and become weak enough for Hamelin to beat us easily. Unless you fancy trying to eat rat?"

That made several of the Wards turn green. Not that she blamed them. The thought of eating the flesh of a giant ravenous rat was enough to turn her stomach, empty though it may be.

"Urgh…pass." Glory Girl looked as if she were going to throw up.

"So, rats aside, has anyone actually got anything to eat or drink on them?" Clockblocker asked.

The result was a resounding negative aside from Panacea, who had a granola bar on her. Sufficient to feed us all it was not. We discussed what to do and it was eventually decided to head back to the room where the Undersiders had been held. It was the direction that the giant rats had come from and I followed the logic of 'go to where the enemy is the most plentiful to find things they don't want you to find when in their home base.'

Yes, it was video game logic, but as my power was a video game-eske one, I thought it would work.

First things first though…

I looked through the loot that I got from the giant rats. It was fairly basic stuff; fur and the like. There were a couple of swords, which I took out and gave to Vista and Clockblocker. They were short swords made of bronze and they were _definitely_ low-tier stuff, but it was better than fighting monster rats barehanded.

"How-? Where the heck did you get those?" Kid Win asked as Clockblocker carefully hefted the blade I'd given him.

"I told you, my power is similar to an RPG." I answered with a smile. "That means I have levels, get EXP and Loot from fights and skills. Iustitia must have played about with exactly what I got, because I don't need a weapon as long as I have her."

"Thank you Mistress." The maiden of Justice preened happily.

"So…what 'level' were those rats?" Aegis asked. I could almost hear the air quotes around 'level' but I gamely ignored them.

"Level Three. Beginner-level stuff." I shrugged. "Right about the proper level for me, because I'm only a Level 4 [Swordsman] right now."

"You have jobs too?"

"Yeah. Actually…Iustitia, what're the High Level and Superior Jobs that you can get after the [Swordsman] Class is maxed out?" I asked my Embryo.

"The High Class Jobs are [Sword Master] and [Sword Hunter], and the Superior Jobs are the [Sword Saint] and [Heaven's Sword] Classes." Iustitia answered immediately. "Of course, as you gain and level other jobs, more shall appear once their unlock conditions become fulfilled."

I then went on to question her about the conditions needed to unlock them all. [Sword Master] merely required me to max out the [Swordsman] Class, while [Sword Hunter] required [Swordsman] to be at least Level 40 and I had to have broken 100 sword-type weapons. [Sword Saint] required both [Swordsman] and [Sword Master] to be maxed out, as well as requiring me to defeat a certain number of enemies with a sword and my Strength and Endurance had to be above 60 each. Finally, [Heaven's Sword] required something that Iustitia couldn't tell me, which I thought was totally bogus, but she had told me the truth every other time, so I guess that there were some things that even she didn't know.

As we talked, we approached the cavern again and entered it. It was still covered in the debris of buildings and I wondered aloud of there might be anything in them of use.

"Nice thought, but I don't wanna risk going in them to find out." Aegis shook his head. "They all look ready to crumble."

Dammit.

Passing through the cavern and into the tunnel on the opposite side, we were almost immediately ambushed by five giant rats. While they were dispatched easily, I was only receiving 45 EXP per rat now, when it had originally been 75. At a guess, it was being reduced by 15 points for every level I gained past Level 2. Why it didn't change between Level 1 and Level 2 was a bit beyond me, but I rolled with it.

Anyway, the point was that pretty soon, these little buggers wouldn't give me any EXP at all, or at least such a pathetically small amount of EXP that it was barely worth the trouble. The thought of ten EXP per rat was making me twitch with irritation.

I killed three giant rats, so I received 135 EXP. Add that onto the 53 EXP I had after that fighting retreat and I had 188 EXP, with 212 EXP until I levelled up again.

"Still, I do wish that my stats weren't being raised so unbalanced towards the physical side." I grumbled to Iustitia as she reverted back to her Maiden Form.

"Once I reach my Second Stage Form, I will be able to grant you level-up bonuses as well, Mistress." My Embryo comforted me as she patted the corpses of the giant rats to retrieve loot from them. "Ordinarily, Embryos do that even just with their First Forms, but I am special in that in exchange for not granting you any bonuses aside from my presence, forms and skills, I automatically grant you the accumulated recompense in the form of levelling your untouched stats by the same amount as was added to your other stats as soon as I evolve into my Second Stage Form."

It took me a moment to work out what she meant. "So by ignoring my Intelligence and Wisdom as I'm doing now, I'll be granted a large lump of points for them when you do evolve? What about afterwards?"

"At that point, I will add to your Intelligence and Wisdom by 5 points every time you level up, and to your Strength, Endurance and Toughness by 5 every other level." Iustitia answered.

"In addition to my jobs? Wow…" I muttered, mind racing as I thought of the possibilities.

"What do you mean 'other forms'?" Kid Win asked. "Can't your projection just switch between a girl and that sword/scales combo?"

"Humph. As if a Maiden Embryo could be satisfied with _just_ that level of power." Justitia snorted. "A Maiden Embryo starts off with two forms; this image of a young girl that you see now and my initial weapon form. Other Embryos start off with one form. As we and our Masters grow in strength and experience, an Embryo can evolve into another form. Sometimes the change is permanent, other times we can shift to whatever form is needed. Those who unlock the seventh and final form of an Embryo are a rare breed, but I believe my Mistress will do so for me."

"Is there any rhyme or reason to the weapons?" the Tinker prodded.

"I am currently a Maiden-with-Arms. That means I take the alternate form of a weapon or piece of armour. My next form could be anything; a guardian monster to protect my Mistress, a castle to grant her safety, a barrier to entrap her enemies…it all depends on how my Mistress and I grow and develop."

"And you can have seven different forms?" Clockblocker whistled. "Definitely _at least_ Trump 7 for that."

I knew about the system of ranking that the PRT used to rate the various Capes, even if I thought that rating them by how potentially dangerous their powers were was a bit stupid. I would personally rate them by the strength and utility of the powers themselves, but hey, the government makes stupid decisions all the time.

We were attacked by Giant Rats three more times as we walk down the tunnel and I gained enough EXP through those fights to level up again. I was now a Level 5 Swordsman and now had the [Small Stamina Boost] Passive Skill, which added 50 to my Stamina bar, which was much appreciated.

"That…is a big door." Clockblocker remarked as we came to a halt in front of it. I fully agreed with him, as it was a door that made bank vaults look flimsy and weak by comparison. It had to be at least four meters square and a couple of feet thick at least. Shining steel and possibly titanium in construction, I believe.

"Kid, tell me that you can bullshit your way into it." I said calmly.

"Depends if this is a Tinker construction or not." The Ward frowned as he looked the door over with a critical eye. "Gimme a minute."

"OK. Backup plan is to try and get Glory Girl to rip the door off." I sighed.

"Not sure I can." The girl known as Alexandria Junior said as she eyed the door dubiously. "Batter if into submission, maybe, but I'd need too much leverage to pry it outta there considering the weight of the door and the size of the locking bars on that thing."

She saw a few raised eyebrows (figuratively speaking) sent in her direction and snorted. "Blonde does _not_ equal bimbo."

Unfortunately, the familiar sound of four legged monsters charging towards us, from behind this time, broke up the session. Kid Win worked on the door while the rest of us minus Panacea kept the rats away from him. As I was only getting 30 EXP per rat now, I was not anticipating levelling up anytime soon, as Gallant had grabbed Kid's laser pistol and was blasting away like it was going out of fashion. I think the fact that his Blaster power was the next best thing to useless in this situation was something of a sore point for him.

" _Any time now_ Kid!" Aegis shouted as he punted a rat back several feet with a snap kick.

"I need more time!" the Tinker shouted back. "Whoever put this together did such a kludge job of it that I'd be amazed if it actually opens!"

"Hurry the fuck up!" I roared as I bisected a rat of my own. "We're getting overwhelmed here!"

"Oh, what the hell!" the red and gold armoured teen snarled and messed about with the wiring inside the hatch he'd somehow managed to pop off. With several hiss-snap sounds and a groan of heavy metal, the door opened wide.

"Fall back!" Aegis ordered. Following his command, we slowly and painfully withdrew as the tide of rats grew ever thicker. Once we were through, Kid Win slapped the controls and the door slammed shut, crushing half-a-dozen rats to death as it did so.

"That was…fun." Clockblocker said faintly as he collapsed onto his ass. "Let's _never do that again."_

"Seconded." Vista piped up.

"Uh…guys?" Kid Win said faintly. "We… _may_ have a problem."

Turning around, I felt my jaw drop at the sight I beheld. Rather than just a random cavern, this was a cavern with an entire town inside it! There was even a curtain wall surrounding the place, and on top of it were…

"Are those people?" I asked in disbelief.

"Only about as much as those rats are." Gallant replied after he presumably used his helmet's zoom function to have a look. "They may look like the real deal from a distance, but their faces are flat and their eyes are pure white; no iris or pupils. I'd bet they're more projections like the rats."

"This…could be a problem." I sighed. Regardless of the likelihood that these were indeed human-like projections, the Wards were _not_ trained to fight other humans to the death, which this would likely lead to. Real or not, we had to get out of here, and of the only way to do that was to go through the people guarding the town, then real human or not, that is what I would do.

"Kid, can you fly up and see if there's another way out of this cavern or if this is the last place we have to look." I requested. "Panacea…can you wake up the Undersiders? We need to talk to them."

 **So, as people have been nicely requesting it, I have decided to finish off this arc of Justice for All before moving onto another snippet. Read and review as thanks, if you please.**

 **On that note, could the guest reviewer who keeps on making an itemised list of my spelling, punctuation and grammar errors for every chapter I post please either stop doing it or get an account and PM them to me instead? A constructive review tells the author both good AND bad things about the story. Actually, just don't do them at all for this ficlet collection. They are here to inspire others into writing, not be good in and of themselves.**


	82. Justice For All Chapter 5

**Justice for All Chapter 5 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

Waking up the Undersiders had been easy for Panacea. What was troublesome had been the reaction they had to discovering they couldn't use their powers. Grue had been calm, but Hellhound ("Bitch, dammit!"), Regent and Tattletale had been very outspoken about the loss of their powers.

Well, Tattletale had actually mostly been complaining about her Thinker Headache.

"Why does she have a Thinker Headache?" Glory Girl asked with a raised eyebrow. "She doesn't even have her power to _give_ her a headache."

"Her Gemma is working overtime…" Panacea mused. "I honestly can't say. I haven't ever seen something like this before."

"Maybe it's another aspect of Hamelin's power." I suggested. "He only takes the useful aspects of the power, leaving any negative aspects with the original wielder?"

"Owwwwwwwww!" Tattletale groaned. "Yeah…he's been overusing my power if this headache is anything to go by…where's my gun, by the way?"

"Clock took it to fight off the rats." Kid Win informed her.

"Great. And I guess we're going to be arrested once we get out of this mess…" Grue said darkly.

"IF we get outta this." Regent chipped in testily.

"Why?" I asked in confusion.

"Justitia…they're villains." Aegis said patiently.

"At the moment they aren't parahumans and we're trapped here, so arresting them is pointless." I said testily. "Also, they're victims of Hamelin as much as we are, more so even because they've had their powers stolen! What kind of asshole move would arresting them at this point be?"

The Wards leader flinched.

"Much as I hate to admit it, she's right, Aegis." Clockblocker said seriously. "I think a mini-Endbringer Truce is called for here."

"Director Piggot will have our heads!" Aegis protested.

"Tell her to take a long walk off a short pier." I suggested waspishly. "We need as many able bodies as we can get right now, hero, villain, independent or rogue. Blame me for it if you want, just shut up and get with the program."

"And that's _you_ told." Kid smirked at Aegis, who sighed and slumped down in defeat.

"This should be on daytime TV." Regent said with a laugh. "A rookie hero pushing around the leader of the Wards…I'd go pay per view for that!"

Grue absently whacked Regent over the head with the practiced motion of someone who had carried out an action so many times it had become ingrained to muscle memory.

"So what's the plan, Justitia?" Vista asked.

"I'll draw the attention of those things guarding the town." I said with a deep breath. "While I'm doing that, the rest of you will infiltrate the town, locate the captured Capes and get as many of them out of there as you can."

"Not happening." Glory Girl shook her head firmly. "You're pretty good with that sword of yours, but no way can you fight so many of those human projections."

"Can any of you fight and kill something that looks so human?" I challenged. "This isn't like the Giant Rats; these things are shaped like people, who you all are trained to go easy on. The only _possible_ exceptions _might_ be the Undersiders, but they're powerless right now. I'll handle it."

Panacea sighed. "She's right. Everyone here has been conditioned not to attack humans with everything that they have. Against these projections, that's too big of a handicap."

"Actually, they aren't too bad to fight against." Grue interjected. "We appeared here and got swarmed by them when that bastard Hamelin teleported us here."

I could almost _see_ Aegis want to scold Grue for his language.

"So how'd you get your butts kicked?" Clockblocker asked.

"He teleported us here without Bitch's dogs and there were twenty of the bastards waiting for us." The leader of the Undersiders growled. "We were overwhelmed in a minute. Those things are definitely Brutes. I punched one in the throat and didn't even phase it. Brute 1 or 2 at least."

"Yep. My Taser did squat as well." Regent chipped in.

"Well, I was sort of expecting that." I sighed. "If this _is_ where Hamelin keeps his captives, then the guardians are going to be enough to dissuade some vanilla humans from attacking too brazenly. Weapons? Armour?"

"Clubs and staves, mostly." The villain answered me. "One had a sword, but it kept to the back."

"A commander-type?" I mused.

"Sounds like it." Kid Win agreed. "Maybe some sort of demi-avatar that allows Hamelin to direct and coordinate his projections…?"

"Probably another power he's stolen." Vista scowled.

It took a while to get everyone on board with my plan, but in the end, they gave in. Guess my mom's stubborn streak lives on in me. The group divided into three. Panacea and Tattletale, along with Vista, were staying behind. Tattletale was too wracked by the debilitating Tinker Headache to be of any use and Panacea wasn't a combat Cape. I was my own group, along with Iustitia, while the rest made up the infiltration team.

Changing Iustitia into her weapon form, I straightened my spine and headed down the path to the town. I could see that the path curved around to end at a clearing in front of the gates to the town. There was no cover to shield anyone from the sight of the projections patrolling the wall and none in the clearing to use to my advantage. Lovely.

' _You have all the advantage you need with me by your side, Mistress._ ' Iustitia said to me telepathically.

' _Thanks_.' I sent back with a small smile. I tightened my grip on my sword as I walked into the clearing, stopping a handful of paces in. The gates of the town walls slammed open and five humanoid projections charged out, clubs held in one hand.

"[ **Balance the Scales]!** " I stated, holding up the scales. The wave of energy hit the oncoming projections, but unlike the Giant Rats, these…Hamelinites…weren't staggered whatsoever. Hopefully I wasn't getting in over my head here.

I used **[Blade Charge]** to leap forwards and stab the lead projection in the stomach, but it was like trying to stab limestone. So damn tough! I did manage to withdraw the sword before he could swipe at me with his club. Dodging the blow, I then used **[Blade Sweep]** to deal out some more damage to it. It was a basic horizontal slash with a bit more power to it, but it was effective. Either that or these things were resistant to Piercing attacks and weak against Slashing attacks.

Avoiding several more blows from the projections, I tested my theory. I stabbed one a couple of times before cutting a different one a couple of times. No matter how I looked at it, the cuts did more damage than the stabs. Lesson learned.

I continued with single-minded focus until one of the projections crashed to the ground, unmoving.

 **[Hamelinian Warrior] (LV5) defeated! You gain 105 EXP!**

Hey! I get decent EXP from these guys. Nice.

Now that I knew their weakness, it didn't take long for the other four to fall to my blade, earning me another Level Up. I didn't get any skills this time, but that was perfectly fine by me.

' _We took care of the advance party, Mistress!_ ' Iustitia rejoiced as I quickly gathered the loot from the bodies.

' _Yeah, but now we have to deal with the main horde._ ' I pointed out, as at least ten more guys stormed out of the gates, including one who had a sword rather than a club. Oh, so the leader has decided to show up too? Just _wonderful_.

Stopping a few meters away from me, the sword-wielder gestured with his weapon and the other [Hamelinian Warriors] spread out around me. An encirclement attack, eh?

"Well then…let's **[Balance the Scales]!** " I shouted. The wave of energy erupted around me and washed over the projections. Again, there wasn't much visible sign of it taking effect, but I had to assume that half of the reason I survived that little tussle earlier with the five previous projections was because of my little trick.

With another wave of its sword, the lead projection sent two of its compatriots at me. I dodged around their attacks and used a mixture of regular slashing and **[Blade Sweep]** to dispatch them. That netted me 90 EXP apiece. I noticed that the leader seemed to be watching the way I moved closely, so the chance that Hamelin is watching me through him is pretty high too, I'd guess.

"Are these guys the best you have, Hamelin?" I asked aloud. "I've already figured out the trick to beating them. Unless you want to simply bury me under superior numbers, you'd better up your game."

OK, so taunting the nigh-omnipotent Cape might not be the best plan, but I'm the distraction, dammit!

Wordlessly, the sword-wielding Hamelinian merely gestured with his sword and sent the rest of the Warriors at me. Eight of them. This would be tough.

The first lunged at me with a solid blow of his weapon, but I slammed my sword into the side of his weapon as it descended and threw the strike off target, following up with a **[Blade Sweep]** to the neck, cutting its head off.

 **Critical Hit!**

Ok, I could use this.

None of the projections so much as flinched as their compatriot fell to the ground headless and pressed their assault. They also compensated for the moment of vulnerability shown during their club attack by attacking two-man teams, one attacking me at a different angle at the same time as the first. It was irritatingly effective, as dividing my attention to avoid both attacks stopped me from mounting a proper counterattack.

' _I don't have to win; I just have to endure._ ' I chanted to myself as I danced through their attacks, occasionally slicing with Iustitia's blade. I could endure these attacks. I was _good_ at enduring things. Mom's death, Dad falling into a depression, Emma betraying me, The Trio's constant attacks…I could handle it.

Outlasting things being my specialty, first one, and then another of the Warriors fell. Then, abruptly, they pulled back to their encircling positions. The sword wielder then stood forwards and pointed its blade at me.

' _Mistress, you only have 830 Stamina remaining._ ' Iustitia warned me. ' _End this fight quickly, or you may be captured by this man._ '

' _Roger that._ ' I thought back. Holding my blade ready, I waited for the attack from my opponent.

I didn't have long to wait. It flew at me with its weapon drawn back. Even without **[Swordsman's Eye]** , I could've read the attack; it was a basic top-right-to-bottom-left diagonal cut. I dodged to the side as it struck, carving a line across the top of its chest, just beneath the neck, with my counter-strike.

Then something slammed into my side like a charging bull, sending me flying with a cry of pain. It'd reversed its sword strike and countered my counter in such a short amount of time?!

With another pained cry, I slammed into the ground and rolled over several times, coming to a rest at the foot of one of the Warriors, which raised its club to strike me down for good. I still had the ability to move though, so I cut off its feet before it could do more than draw back its weapon, and then cut its head off.

Turning back to the sword wielder, I winced as my ribs protested my movement. It was sore, but I hadn't any broken ones. I think.

' _Mistress, you've lost over a hundred HP!_ ' my Embryo cried out in worry. ' _You should retreat! This isn't an opponent you can defeat by yourself!_ '

' _Sorry, Iustitia._ ' I told her with a wry smile crossing my face. ' _I can't do that. The Wards and the rest are counting on me. I will not fail them. Because…_ '

"…that is my justice!"' I finished aloud.

There was silence for a moment before the Sword and Scales of Justice burst into dazzling light.

"Yes, my Mistress!" Iustitia exulted. "I am your Embryo and I shall give my all to upholding your justice!"

A screen popped up in front of me.

 **[Embryo Evolution! Second Stage Evolution Confirmed!]**

 **Mapping all 126 evolutionary paths…**

 **Selecting best possible evolution choice for current situation…**

… **Completed.**

 **Second Form: [Cudgel of the Law]!**

' _Iustitia! Take on your new form!_ ' I ordered her, smirking in anticipation.

' _Yes, Mistress!_ ' She sounded even more eager than I was.

In another blaze of light, I was holding a short club, about a foot long. It looked to be made of white gold, with a golden crest of a sword and scales inlaid on the shaft. At the opposite end of the handle was a ball about the size of an apple which was glowing.

I recognised it as a tipstaff, a ceremonial club used by tipstaves, a type of bailiff normally called court officers. Thank you Mom for being interested in uncommon and old-fashioned words.

' _Mistress, this form has two different abilities._ ' Iustitia informed me. ' _The first is_ **[Order in the Court]** _,_ _which gives you increased damage for every enemy you are facing. The second is_ **[The Law Stands Alone]** _,_ _which increases the amount of damage you deal out based on a condition; the lower your Stamina gauge is compared to how full it should be, the higher the extra damage you deal is. It also reduces the rate of your stamina consumption by three-quarters while active._ '

' _In other words, it's the perfect weapon to use now, when I'm both outnumbered and low on Stamina!_ ' I summed up with a fierce snarl on my face. I charged in and swung my new weapon at the sword wielding projection. It attempted to block my attack, but the sheer force of my blow shattered its sword into pieces.

Reacting quickly, it fell back as its sword started to regenerate and the other Warriors launched an attack on me. Unlike before, my blows were enough to send the projections flying with one hit. I stomped the last three of them in quick succession before returning my attention to the sword wielder, which had finished regenerating its sword.

Just about the only disadvantage of this new weapon was that my [Swordsman] Class Attack Skills **[Blade Charge]** and **[Blade Sweep]** couldn't be used. I'd have to pick up another class to use this new weapon form to its fullest.

"Justitia!" Glory Girl shouted as she swooped in and hammered the projection from behind with one fist. It was sent flying towards me and I slammed my Cudgel of the Law into its body, killing it.

 **[Hamelinian Warrior Chief] (LV7) defeated! You earn 190 EXP!**

That was enough to push me to another level as well, but I put it to one side as I replaced Iustitia into the safety of the crest on my hand.

"Mission complete?" I asked as I grabbed her hand, letting her fly me to the top of the valley.

"And then some." The Flying Brick agreed. She dropped me down and Panacea walked over and looked me in the eyes, worry in them.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "That projection threw you quite a distance."

"I think I have a few bruised ribs, but nothing too bad." I answered with a wince, reminded of their existence.

"Do I have your permission to heal you?" the healer asked.

"Go ahead." I nodded. She reached out and touched me on the cheek with one hand, the pain fading away almost instantly. "Wow. That feels so much better! Thanks."

"All in a day's work." Panacea answered with a smile. "The others brought some food from the town. You should have some, as my healing uses your body's own resources. Not to mention you're probably starving."

"I hear that." I sighed.

As I grabbed the first sandwich I saw and dug in, I listened in on Aegis talking to the other Wards.

"We have Speed Demon, a villain from Philadelphia. He was rated to be a Mover 5, super speed limited to when he was being chased. Also, we have an unknown Tinker, Lightray, a Vigilante Shaker 4 who makes solid-light structures, from Texas, and several others that I don't recognise." He listed. "How long has this guy been active? Lightray vanished over a year ago!"

"Justitia was right. The Protectorate really should keep a better track of Indies." Gallant sighed.

"Great, so we have a dozen unconscious bodies." Vista grumbled in between bites from a granola bar. "All of whom will be useless in a fight because they're without their powers. More people to protect."

"What was it like in there?" I asked Kid Win.

"Like a freaking ghost town." The Tinker shuddered. "The place is built like a town from the Swiss Alps a couple of hundred years ago and I half expected to see men running around in lederhosen every time I peeked in the houses."

"Most of 'em are just empty shells." Glory Girl added. "Only the buildings around the town centre are anything close to real. And boy, are they freaky too. Just rows of stone slabs and the Capes on top of them."

"One was even solely dedicated to housing a power generator, along with a couple of fridges and freezers." Kid Win added. "There were perishable storage units too. He had enough to last him quite a while. We took a bit, but we do need to get out of here."

"I beat sixteen of those humanoid projections, so he has to have noticed things are not going according to plan by this point." I said with a nod. "Speaking of which…"

I checked my list of jobs via my mirror.

 **Available Jobs:**

 **\- Fighter**

 **\- Soldier**

 **\- Duellist**

 **\- Academic**

 **\- Bailiff (*)**

 **\- Maceman (*)**

 **\- X - Sergeant-at-Arms (*)**

Oooh, three new ones!

According to Iustitia, **[Maceman]** was the basic mace user, which provided several useful strength boosts and skills. **[Bailiff]** was a hybrid between a **[Maceman]** and the **[Scribe]** class, acting kind of similar to a Red Mage in that while I could gain skills from both classes, I wouldn't master either of them to the same degree, although there were unique class only skills.

The last class, **[Sergeant-at-Arms]** , was one I had the right stats for, but not the right classes. In order to unlock it fully, I had to have the **[Swordsman]** , **[Soldier]** , **[Spearman]** , **[Maceman]** , **[Halberdier]** , **[Archer]** and **[Crossbowman]** classes levelled at 25 each at least. It was a shame, but I didn't think I'd do that. The likelihood of Iustitia becoming all of those weapons was unlikely and I would need to keep with the classes that worked for my Embryo.

With that in mind, I chose the **[Maceman]** class.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **You have acquired the [Club Mastery] passive skill!**

 **You have levelled up!**

 **You are now a Maceman (LV1)**

 **You gain +50 HP!**

 **You gain +5 Strength!**

 **You gain +5 Toughness!**

 **You gain +5 Endurance!**

 **By the effect of your Embryo, you are granted the accumulated stat points to your Wisdom and Intelligence!**

 **You gain +45 Intelligence!**

 **You gain +45 Wisdom!**

 **You gain the [Mighty Smash] Skill!**

 **You gain the [Buckler Mastery] Skill!**

 **You gain the [Second Health Boost] Skill!**

 **From your Embryo's evolution, you gain the [MP Up!] Skill!**

 **Name:** **Taylor Hebert**

 **Cape** **Name:** **Justitia**

 **Gender:** **Female**

 **Level:** **7**

 **Title:** **None**

 **Job (s):** **(1) Swordsman (LV6)**

 **(2) Maceman (LV1)**

 **EXP:** **73/550**

 **Embryo:** **Maiden of Justice Iustitia**

 **Embryo Type:** **Maiden with Arms**

 **Embryo Forms Achieved:** **2/7**

 **Stats**

 **HP: 650**

 **STA: 1500**

 **MP: 205**

 **Strength: 47**

 **Toughness: 45**

 **Endurance: 47**

 **Intelligence: 65**

 **Wisdom: 60**

 **Luck: ?**

Given that my mental stats had been higher initially, it wasn't a surprise that they were higher now too.

"Oh yeah!" Glory Girl exclaimed. "Justitia was throwing those creeps around like they were nothing! What the hell happened?"

"Iustitia achieved her second form." I answered as I put my mirror away. "It gave me two new abilities that increases my damage output depending on how many enemies I face at any given moment, and ups my damage further depending on how low my stamina is."

"A Trump/Brute powerset?" Clockblocker whistled. "Not bad."

"Trump/ _Striker_ , Clock." Kid Win objected. "She said damage, not strength. It isn't actually increasing her physical strength, just the damage she deals out. I'd put it at Trump/Striker 4 or 5."

"What about the fact those projections were getting airtime with every hit?" Glory Girl asked pointedly. "It was like watching a Brute fight."

"A secondary component to her Striker section reflecting the damage as what the equivalent of physical strength would do to the target." The Tinker rattled off.

"What is your new weapon?" Aegis asked me. I silently called out Iustitia, my Embryo showing off her new form as a tipstaff.

"A club?" Panacea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A tipstaff." I corrected her. "A ceremonial mace used since the 15th century as a symbol of rank for a certain kind of bailiff. It fits in with the 'justice' theme Iustitia and I have going. I'm looking forward to seeing what her third form will be."

"Anyway…what do we do now?" Gallant asked.

"We have to wait until Hamelin notices that we've pretty much taken over the inner sanctum of his dimension." I said as I got Iustitia to resume her human form. She looked even older now, barely a year younger than me. She also had bigger boobs than I did, dammit!

"How long'll that be?" Grue asked. The Undersiders had been silent aside from Tattletale's infrequent groans of pain.

A deafening roar of fury filled the cavern. It was male, it was coming from everywhere and boy, was it _angry_.

"I'd say right about now." Regent put in snidely.

Grue whacked him over the head again.

 **OK, so…this is chapter five. The next chapter will be the end of the arc if I can swing it. If not, the chapter after that.**


	83. Justice for All Chapter 6

**Justice for All Chapter 6 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

The roar that was presumably Hamelin's expression of rage continued on for a moment before cutting out. Either he was still in the middle of fighting the Protectorate and couldn't come into his little fiefdom or he had shifted in and was on his way here already.

In either case, I knew we couldn't last much longer. I dunno about the Wards, the Undersiders or the two younger members of New Wave, but I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I'd been awake since seven this morning and it was at least ten o'clock right now, plus we'd been fighting constantly for the last two or three hours. We needed rest, and I had the funniest feeling we weren't going to get it.

Voicing this opinion wasn't wise, as it would drag down morale, so I kept quiet about it. Instead, I examined Iustitia. She had taken on the physical appearance of a fourteen year old, one more gifted than I was in the bust, hips and rear-end department and she also had a pretty face. Typical, my own power was more attractive than I was!

"So what's the plan?" Kid Win asked.

"We're all tired, so we rest." I informed him.

"Seriously?" Aegis asked.

"What about that roar just now? Isn't Hamelin pissed at us?" Glory Girl asked with a frown, scanning her surroundings. I was willing to bet that the instant the kidnapping Cape appeared, she'd try to brain him.

"Either he's still running from and/or fighting the Protectorate and New Wave or he's already here." I answered with a shrug as I sat down. "If it's the latter, we can't do anything without him being within laser pistol range. If he's still playing tag with your superiors and family, we have time to rest. I'm bushed, I dunno about the rest of you."

"Yeah, we're a bit tired too." Vista nodded, stifling a yawn.

"So then, we'll take hour-long naps in shifts, half on, half off." I proposed. "Not nearly as good as sleeping properly, but it's better than nothing."

"Sounds like an idea." Grue nodded. "Kid Win told me that you have weapons. Care to share the wealth?"

I looked through my inventory and saw that Iustitia must have touched the Giant Rat stuck in the door or one of the Hamelian's and played around with my drops from that, because I had a whole bunch of weapons. "Any preferences?"

"I'm a fist fighter." The Undersiders' leader said.

"Any cattle prods?" Regent asked.

"Hand to hand." Bitch grunted.

"Ranged…if possible." Tattletale said, wincing as her headache throbbed in fury.

"Welll…for Grue and Bitch…these [Knuckle Gloves] will be good." I said, drawing two pairs of hand protectors. Each had blunt spikes atop the knuckles that slightly increased their damage in hand to hand combat, regardless of whether they were used as a boxer's weapon or in swipes like Bitch used. I had to explain that to Grue when he pointed out his teammate's fighting style, and he was impressed by her 'Trump effect' so that was good.

"As for you, Regent…nope. Fresh out of cattle prods." I shrugged. "Got a blackjack though."

"Meh, better than nothing." The renaissance-faire reject shrugged. The one I gave him was one of three I received, with this one having a 10% chance to double the damage dealt with each hit and a 5% chance to stun per hit.

Ranged weapons…yeah, I only had one.

"What the heck is this?" Tattletale looked at it in bafflement. It was a pouch with several small projectiles in it.

"Throwing darts, sixteen of them." I informed her. "They may not look like much, but they'll hit with a shock effect, paralyzing whoever's hit with them for a moment. That should give you time to get away. Take this baton too."

What I gave her was a billy club made of wood, with no special effects other than raising her defence slightly while she wielded it. I noticed Aegis staring in my direction for a moment before looking away. I could tell that he was very much in of the thought that handing out weapons to villains was A Bad Thing, but screw him. We were under an Endbringer Truce and everything, so they needed to be able to pull their weight.

Besides, I didn't give Regent my best blackjack, nor did I give Grue and Bitch my best gloves. Tattletale's ranged weapon was limited in ammo and her close combat weapon was only as lethal as her arms could swing it. She obviously preferred to stay out of CQC, so I doubted that she had much practice at using weapons like the club.

See Aegis? I can think ahead too!

In the end, despite my exhaustion, I was one of the ones to remain awake and on guard duty, alongside Gallant, Glory Girl, Aegis, Grue and Regent. Kid Win, Vista, Panacea, Clockblocker, Bitch and Tattletale would sleep, or at least try to. I really felt sorry for Tattletale, who was still suffering under her Thinker headache. I was pretty thankful that I didn't have Thinker powers if one of those damned headaches was the end result.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Aegis quietly asked uneasily half an hour later, looking around at the villains suspiciously.

"I don't see anything suspicious with them, Aegis." I pointed out softly.

Grue and Regent were talking in low voices, with Grue looking around every so often. The Wards Leader twitched every time he did.

"Look, we need all the help we can get." I said patiently. "Grue agreed to an Endbringer Truce, so we have to take them at their word. If there's one thing that villains can be counted upon, it's keeping the Endbringer Truce. Doesn't the Protectorate teach you _anything_?"

Aegis shut up.

I sighed and went back to scanning the valley. Aegis was such a self-righteous little…! I mean, I could understand it if the Undersiders had made ANY suspicious moves since they woke up, but they hadn't done anything suspicious at all from what I could see. Maybe they'd done something while I'd been playing decoy?

Or maybe Aegis is just a lawful stupid kinda guy. I had no clue what his damage was here, but I could tell that once Hamelin was dealt with, he was going to be a pain in the ass.

I stood up and walked over to lean against the wall of the enclosed valley. Iustitia followed me.

' _That boy is irritating you, Mistress?_ ' she asked silently.

' _Yes. He's so convinced that someone being a villain automatically makes them a threat that has to be neutralised, even in this kind of circumstance._ ' I replied. ' _Given that he's eying Grue and Regent like a sheepdog eyes a wolf, I think he's probably going to try to arrest the Undersiders after Hamelin is taken care of._ '

' _They_ are _villains._ ' Iustitia pointed out.

' _True, but there are very clear and defined rules to do with an Endbringer Truce._ ' I explained patiently. ' _As soon as the Endbringer Sirens go off, the Truce is in effect. It only ends once all heroes and villains are returned to their homes without incident. In the spirit of that, this mini-Endbringer Truce should be in effect until the Wards, New Wave and the Undersiders separate. Aegis is likely going to claim that with no authority figures from the Protectorate here to make it, the truce doesn't count or something like that. That is unjust, so I will oppose him if it comes to it._ '

' _If that is your justice, then I shall grant you my power to carry it out, Mistress._ ' My Embryo stated firmly. I nodded at her with a smile before continuing my watch. Half an hour later, it was my turn to rest and I dropped off like a light.

Waking up an hour later left me feeling groggy as hell. Seriously, I was going to lock myself in my room and sleep for a couple of days once this was over.

"Any sign of him?" I asked Panacea, who had been the one to wake me up.

"Nope." The healer shook her head. "He's not shown his face here, ditto for any projections."

That…was worrying. We've violated his base of operations, taken custody of the source of his stolen powers and destroyed most of his minions. By all rights, he should have stormed in here hours ago ready to cut us into pieces. The fact that he hadn't meant that either he couldn't, for whatever reason, or that he was coming up with a way to attack us with another projection while he was still outside.

If it was the former, then it also led to the latter. My mom had been able to carry on a full conversation while she graded papers from her job as an English Lit professor, so I knew that it was possible to multitask. If Hamelin was making a projection to take us on whilst simultaneously running from and/or fighting the heroes chasing him, it was a worrying prospect.

When I informed the others of my guess, I was met with groans. Evidently they deemed it likely as well.

"This guy's like a goddamn Dungeon Master." Clockblocker muttered. "If I have to fight a bugbear or something, I am going to be _so_ pissed."

"Uh, guys?" Vista said with a gulp. "The wall's warping!"

Looking over at where Vista was pointing at, the wall on the opposite side of the valley, a large section of the wall was being warped by some kind of purple and orange energy field. It was about the side of a one-story house and did not give me the warm fuzzies to look at.

Fortunately, my Stamina Bar was now full from both eating and sleeping for an hour. If Hamelin wanted to play games, I'd play games right back at him.

' _Mistress, I sense a BM being formed._ ' Iustitia spoke up suddenly. She had retreated into the seal on my hand while I slept.

" _A_ what _now?_ ' I asked.

' _A Boss Monster._ ' My Embryo replied. ' _A vastly stronger monster than any of the regular ones you have faced up until now. Typically, it will be a large version of monsters you have faced in the area. That's how it is for an Area Boss, anyway. Unique Boss Monsters are even more troublesome, but fortunately, this aura isn't that of a UBM._ '

' _Lovely._ ' I thought back to her as the rock of the valley wall warped into a large metal double-door.

"Looks like we have the old monster out of the cave routine." I sighed.

Kid Win snorted. "What, like the Rancor from Star Wars?"

The doors burst open as soon as they were finished forming, revealing a horrific sight; a large conglomeration of hairless rats the size of racecars, their tails tied together in the centre. The shrill shrieking of the dozen or so rats hurt my ears to listen to.

"No…as in a supersized Rat King." I deadpanned back. Rat Kings were troublesome omens spoken of in step with the Black Plague. They were actually just a group of rats who had their tails stuck together through some happenstance. _This_ Rat King, however, was a walking bag of trouble that we have to deal with.

"Kid…" Glory Girl growled. "You just _had_ to jinx it!"

"Gimme a break!"

"Iustitia, Form One." I ordered.

"Yes Mistress!" Iustitia said excitedly and transformed back into the sword and scales. Using this form was preferred in a one-on-one fight compared to the tipstaff form. If my Stamina dropped low enough, I'd swap over, but not before then. The **[Balance the Scales]** ability of the Scales was really too useful.

"We…have to fight that thing?" Tattletale said nervously.

"Not the Undersiders or Panacea." Gallant shook his head firmly. "Not Vista either. You're all either disempowered or not combat capable. Don't argue, Vista. Your Shaker power isn't useful in this situation."

"Stupid Manton Limit…" the green-clad girl grumbled.

"Er, guys? That thing's coming this way!" Clockblocker said with a gulp.

Indeed, the Rat King was somehow coordinating its movements to charge across the valley at us. Just bloody perfect!

"Whatever you do, do _not_ separate the rats!" I shouted as I started to run at the charging rat pack. "The fact that they have to divide their attention to coordinate their movement is too big of an advantage to give up, so whatever you do, do NOT cut off their tails!"

"Roger that!" Kid Win nodded and pointed his laser pistol at the Rat King. Blasts of focussed light leapt from it, swiftly joined by the laser rifle in Clockblocker's hands, the red beams hitting the forerunning huge rats and making them screech in pain.

"Glory Girl, smackdown time!" I called.

"Hell yeah!" The Alexandria-type grinned and flew up into the air, only to slam into the head of one of the rats like a javelin. She rose up and flew into the town, only to return with a long wooden beam that she had apparently taken from the construction materials in the town. She set about slamming her new weapon into the Rat King as a makeshift bludgeon.

"[ **Balance the Scales]!** " I shouted once I came within range of the Rat King. The energy pulsed from the scales and slammed into the many bodies of the Rat King, which promptly faltered, staggered and collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, however, an immense weight landed on my shoulders. It was like I was trying to bench an eighteen wheeler!

' _Mistress, you can't keep this up!_ ' Iustitia informed me in a panic. ' _This boss is resistant to my_ **[Balance the Scales]** _Skill! If you keep this up, you'll be hurt!_ '

'How long before I have to release it?' I asked with gritted teeth.

'At best, you can keep it up for five minutes.' Iustitia said after a moment. 'I would prefer it if you would cut it out at three, however.'

"Guys!" I called out. "This thing has a Trump effect, an anti-Shaker one! It isn't too strong, but I can only weaken the Rat King for another few minutes, five at the very outside!"

"Fuckin' Trumps." Aegis growled as he sped in to pummel the Rat King with another wooden beam. Huh, so he took a leaf from Glory Girl's book. Nice.

I also went in and started to cut and stab with my sword. Unlike the others, who were shooting and smashing the bodies of the Rat King, I was targeting a specific part of them; the eyes. Granted, rats had a better sense of hearing and smell than sight, but I'd take whatever advantage I could get against the damn things.

I actually managed to blind three quarters of the bedamned things before I was forced to release [Balance the Scales]. Stupid damned Trump effects…

'[ **Balance the Scales]** _is on a five minute cooldown before it can be used again._ ' Iustitia informed me.

' _OK. Let me know when my Stamina reaches below 800._ ' I told her.

With a chorus of roars, the Rat King's bodies rose back to their feet and started lashing out at the irritating insects that were attacking them. Fortunately, the two big hitters were fliers, which made it hard for the conjoin-tailed mess of giant rats to reach them without dragging the other rats away from their own attacks.

Being ground bound and up close with them, a lot of the rats' attacks came at me. I managed to dodge most of them, and the armour-slash-costume I wore stopped what little got through, but it hurt like _hell_ to be slashed by the talon of a rat the size of a Buick.

"You OK?" Glory girl shouted as she crushed the paw of one rat with her oversized club.

"F-Fine." I managed. The damn rat had sent me flying with barely a pause. Even if I was wearing armour, it was only made of leather, so I was reasonably certain that I had a few fractured ribs at least from that blow. Not to mention the cuts and scrapes from a few near misses earlier.

"What does it take to kill these things?!" Clockblocker shouted as he blasted away with Kid Win's laser rifle.

"Aim for their heads!" Glory Girl roared and, following her own advice, she slammed her club down on one huge rat head, splitting it apart like a melon hit by a sledgehammer.

"Gross!" Vista shouted from the rear.

Aegis followed suit and pretty soon, there was only one living part of the Rat King left alive. I took care of it with a stab through the eye and into the brain.

 **You have slain the Boss [Giant Rat King of Hamelin]! You earn 450 EXP!**

 **Generating Boss Loot…generated!**

 **You receive [Half-Closed Helm of the Rat King]!**

That was interesting. I had both earned enough EXP to level up again (I added another level of [Maceman]) and gotten a piece of loot from the boss that Iustitia didn't give me.

I pulled up the helm out of curiosity.

 **[Half-Closed Helm of the Rat King]**

 **Rarity: Rare**

 **Acquired from the Giant Rat King of Hamelin, this helm retains the counter-Shaker property that was the Boss monster's selling point.**

 **Defence: +50**

 **Special Effect: Shaker Resistance (All Shaker effects used against the user are 50% more energy intensive to use and can only affect the user for a maximum of three to five minutes.)**

The appearance of the helmet was more than slightly freaky, resembling a bunch of rats draped over a metal shell. It also had a faceplate, although the lower face below the nose was left exposed. Checking it out, I was relieved to see that they were not live rats but highly ornate metal ones. I could also wear it on top of my current face mask as the face mask counted as eyewear for some strange reason.

Equipping it made some of the others start in surprise, but they were a bit envious of my power once I explained what I got from the boss.

"Some people get all the luck." Clockblocker grumbled. "I temporarily stop time with a touch and you get a kick ass game power."

I just shrugged helplessly. What could you even say to that?

After Panacea healed everyone up, we inspected the room that the Boss had come from. Carved out of one wall was a large gate even larger than the one that the Rat King had used. On one half of the gate was a sword and scales, while there were multiple symbols drawn on the other one; a clock face, a shield, a small cross, a tiara, a helmet…

"So this is his game." I snorted, hefting my sword onto my shoulder.

"What?" Vista asked.

"This door leads out, but only one party can go through." I nodded at the doors. "That's what I think the symbols mean. I'm all alone on one half, while the other half has symbols representing everyone else that's awake. Basically, we're being forced to make a choice; either I go out alone or you all go out, leaving me behind. I recommend the second one."

"Son of a bitch!" Glory Girl swore.

"Language." Aegis said.

"Oh, grow a spine." Vista snapped. "I've heard worse on patrol. We are _not_ leaving you, Justitia."

"You guys have to tell the Protectorate about Hamelin; his powers, limits and motives." I retorted. "The Protectorate won't listen to me; hell, because my costume's got a rat theme to it, they might think I'm Hamelin's collaborator or something. Nope, you guys have to get outta here and take the other Capes he has trapped here with you. I think I can handle Hamelin alone for a while, especially if he's disempowered somewhat."

"This is a bad idea." Aegis shook his head slowly. "If he gets his hand on your power…"

"My power can't be used by anyone other than me. It's even more personalised than your powers are." I disagreed. I didn't actually know this for a fact, but I had a feeling it wouldn't work out well for Hamelin if he tried to usurp my power. "Look, it's a number game. One is less than a group. Go, I'll be fine."

It took another five minutes to persuade the Wards, New Wave duo and Undersiders to go and leave me. Grue promised that once I got out, the Undersiders would owe me a favour. That was pretty nice of him.

Figuring out how the door worked was pretty easy. All I had to do was place my hand on the door that had the symbols of the others on it and it opened. They walked through, very reluctantly. Kid Win hesitated for a moment before handing me his laser pistol.

"Eh?!" I was shocked. Why would he…?

"Make sure you return it." He said seriously before walking through the door.

I holstered the pistol in a pouch on my belt before the door closed shut behind the others. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and exited the gate room. Moving to the centre of the room, I stood still and waited. Hamelin would be along in a moment, I was certain.

Sure enough a black-red orb of energy appeared in front of the gates of the town and faded away, revealing the multi-coloured robe of Hamelin, who immediately turned his hooded head to face me.

"You…!" he seethed.

"Yes?" I said impatiently. "I what?"

"You…do you know how much work you have disrupted? Three long years of it!" Hamelin hissed. "Three years of canvasing my targets, three years of dodging villains and heroes. Three years of work that you have made defunct in less than a day!"

I shrugged easily before placing my arms on my hips. "And what of it? You kidnapped me, out of costume, and stuck me in this place full of giant rats and whatnot! Not to mention kidnapping Panacea, Glory Girl and the Wards!"

"My ambitions required them." The man said coldly. "It will be tedious to recapture them once I have dealt with you, but at least I'll have your strange power to use against the Protectorate and New Wave."

I scoffed. "Ha. It was one thing to attack them when they were off-guard and unaware of you, but now? It may as well be suicide for you. Besides…I plan on stopping you here and now."

"Ha! As expected, that was your intention when you stood back to let the other children go." Hamelin laughed. "Arrogance precedes many a fall, child. This time, the fall is yours."

"Kindly don't go declaring your victory before the first punch has been thrown." I growled. "Last time I checked, all of your power sources were taken out of your control zone. You should only have your original power left to you."

Reaching inside of his robe, Hamelin withdrew a familiar flute. "I may not have my organic batteries anymore, but I still have the residual powers left in this dimension from those who were here for at least a month to draw upon. I can only use them while in my dimension, but as we're here already…well, it is most unfortunate for you."

"Iustitia, Form One!" I ordered softly.

In a flash, my sword and scales were in my hands, ready and willing.

' _Mistress, don't use_ **[Balance the Scales]** _against this person._ ' My Embryo whispered to me. ' _Your physical stats are superior to his, so you will help him if you use it._ '

' _Got it._ ' I sent back grimly. This man had kidnapped me, kidnapped the Wards and even kidnapped Panacea. There was no way I was going to let him get away with that, even more so because he knew what I looked like underneath my mask. I wonder about if I hit him on the head enough times, could he develop amnesia?

"Ready? Then let us begin…" Hamelin said sinisterly as he brought his flute to his lips.

 **And that's where it ends. ^_^**

 **Only kidding. Next time in the Asylum: the conclusion to this arc of Justice for all.**


	84. Justice For All Chapter 7

**Justice for All Chapter 7 (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

 _With Emily Piggot_

 _Lobby, PRT Building_

There were times that Piggot could wish that she could have died back in Elisburg to avoid the sheer number of headaches that this job was giving her. Like today, for example.

All of the Wards, barring Shadow Stalker, had been kidnapped in broad daylight by a Cape calling himself Hamelin. The kidnapping had continued on, after he had _somehow_ manged to avoid being captured by Battery and Velocity, when both Panacea and Glory Girl had been captured right outside the hospital that the world's greatest healer had been working in today.

With New Wave incensed and the Protectorate out for blood, even Kaiser and Lung had decided to keep their heads down. Skidmark had tried to take advantage of the distraction of the Protectorate, but had been dealt with by Lady Photon as she passed.

Hamelin had led the two hero teams on a merry chase, _especially_ after he broke into the Wards base to try and kidnap Shadow Stalker. The former vigilante had barely managed to flee long enough for Armsmaster to rescue her and Hamelin had managed to get away, _again!_

The chase had continued up until a while ago, when Hamelin, who had stopped in front of the PRT building for some reason, abruptly vanished in a shower of golden sparks and the Wards, Glory Girl, Panacea _plus_ the teenaged villain gang known as the Undersiders, appeared in his place.

That was good news, but the fact that Aegis had been arguing with Gallant for the past five minutes about whether a mini-Endbringer Truce inside _a dimensional pocket_ , of all things, counted.

Finally, a minute ago, Armsmaster had gotten fed up with it and asked Dragon for her opinion.

" _I have to agree with Gallant here._ " The world's foremost Tinker said firmly. " _Any situation that can be described as an Endbringer Truce situation_ must _have the Truce upheld, both in word and in spirit. If it isn't, then the entire Endbringer Truce will fall apart._ "

"Fine." Piggot growled. The entire situation was ridiculous and she would have let the Undersiders go earlier, if Aegis hadn't acted like such an obnoxious, rule bound idiot.

Grue nodded and flexed one hand, a cloud of darkness the size of a grapefruit appearing above it. "Looks like Justitia was right; we have our powers back."

"I am going to _kill_ Hamelin for overusing my powers like he did." Tattletale groaned as she staggered towards the exit. "Ohhh, my _head_."

"Later, bitches." Regent called cheerfully as he followed her jauntily, Hellhound stomping after him with a scowl on her face.

Once the villains departed, Piggot sent a scowl towards Aegis, who flinched back.

"Aegis, you will be sent for training on flexible thinking, as it is _clear_ that you require it." She said crisply. "Gallant, who is this 'Justitia' that Grue mentioned?"

"A new Independent Hero, ma'am." The armoured faux-Tinker answered crisply. "She was captured by Hamelin approximately a short while after we were. She was in her civilian clothes at the time, but her power is…well, _bizarre_. It works, from all appearances, like the system of an RPG, quantifying her physical and mental abilities in numeric form and allowing her to improve them, as well as granting her the ability to gain loot from defeated enemies. She was the one who got us out of Hamelin's dimension, but at the cost of being trapped there herself."

Piggot was about to say something more when her radio squawked. " _Console to Director Piggot._ "

"Piggot here." She sighed as she grabbed the device. As the Wards had all been absent and the entirety of the Protectorate mobilised, the console down in the Wards base was currently manned by one of her troopers.

" _New Wave is inbound to collect Panacea and Glory Girl, ma'am. Lady Photon and Brandish are looking…determined, according to Velocity._ " The man said.

"Roger that." Piggot sighed again. Dealing with Brandish was never easy, but the woman was on a crusade at the moment, making dealing with her _twice_ as arduous as normal, which was quite the feat. "Have Velocity lead them in."

" _Acknowledged, ma'am._ " The trooper replied before going silent.

The members of New Wave swooped into the PRT building minutes later, grabbing their two formerly-missing members into hugs. Brandish, she noted, kept away from Panacea, however.

"Where is the… _monster_ …that kidnapped Glory Girl and Panacea?" Lady Photon asked coldly once she had been reassured that her nieces were alive and unharmed.

"If the Wards and your nieces are to be believed, then he has a dimensional pocket that he can escape to." Piggot answered. "Presumably, that's where he is currently."

"Hamelin is a Glaistig Uaine-style Trump, although he requires the Parahumans in question to remain alive and unharmed unlike the Fairy Queen." Armsmaster stated. "Although the Wards, your nieces and the Undersiders were able to bring back a dozen or so kidnapped Parahumans, the sheer _size_ of the dimension, comparable to a city the size of Boston at least, practically guarantees that he has other Parahumans to draw powers from. In addition to the difficulty posed simply by getting to his dimension pocket, Aegis informs me that any Cape who falls unconscious there has their power usurped by Hamelin."

"That was Justitia's best guess, anyway." Vista piped up. "I hope she's OK."

Gallant patted her on the shoulder bracingly. "She'll be fine. I actually think she chose to stay behind just so she could face Hamelin alone. The reasons she gave were good, but I think getting grabbed in her civvies _really_ made her mad."

"I can imagine." Lady Photon said with a scowl.

Just then, Clockblocker burst into the lobby, mask a bit askew. "Director, you'll really want to see this!" he half-shouted, drawing attention from everyone present. Piggot almost screamed in frustration. What NOW!?

He hurriedly led the Wards, New Wave and Protectorate members down to the Wards base and pointed at the widescreen TV mounted on one wall that usually was used for when the Wards gathered for group bonding and relaxation. Armsmaster had been dubious about it, feeling that teambuilding exercises were sufficient for the former and that the latter could happen when they were off the clock.

This was coming from Mr 'Free-time equals Free-to-work-time' so Piggot had ignored his pro-forma protests.

Displayed on the screen was a dirty brown valley with two figures in it; one was instantly recognisable as Hamelin, in his multi-coloured robe, while the other almost had to be this 'Justitia' character. She was a tall person, dressed in a brown costume that blended in very well with the dull landscape. On her head was a crown that seemed to be made of rats.

" _-recapture them once I have dealt with you, but at least I'll have your strange power to use against the Protectorate and New Wave._ " A male voice, presumably Hamelin, was saying.

Justitia scoffed. " _Ha. It was one thing to attack them when they were off-guard and unaware of you, but now? It may as well be suicide for you. Besides…I plan on stopping you here and now._ "

"Damn." Glory Girl whispered as Hamelin grew amused.

" _Ha! As expected, that was your intention when you stood back to let the other children go._ " The robed villain chuckled. " _Arrogance precedes many a fall, child. This time, the fall is yours._ "

" _Kindly don't go declaring your victory before the first punch has been thrown._ " Justitia shot back in a growl, plainly irritated by being underestimated. " _Last time I checked, all of your power sources were taken out of your control zone. You should only have your original power left to you._ "

"She's being cocky." Armsmaster muttered. "There was no way to tell if that's the only place where Hamelin kept his victims."

"We never saw any place like that town in the rest of the dimension, Armsmaster." Vista spoke up, her voice strained slightly with worry for her new friend. "I think he only has that one town to keep people in."

" _I may not have my organic batteries anymore, but I still have the residual powers left in this dimension from those who were here for at least a month to draw upon. I can only use them while in my dimension, but as we're here already…well, it is most unfortunate for you._ " Hamelin informed Justitia smugly.

"Shit." Kid Win cursed.

"Language." Aegis and Piggot chimed in at the same time.

" _Iustitia, Form One!_ " Justitia snapped softly. In a flash, a European-style one-handed sword appeared in her right hand, while a golden set of scales appeared in her left hand.

"So _that's_ why she took the name Justitia; her armament takes the form of Lady Justice's symbols." Piggot mused. "But why call out 'Iustitia'? It's just an alternate spelling of Justitia."

"Her power manifests as a girl who can transform into those weapons." Gallant explained. "She calls herself 'Iustitia, Maiden of Justice' and claims to embody Justitia's views on Justice. She seems as fully human as any that I've met and even gave us a lecture on how she came to be formed and why Justitia is a good 'Mistress' to her."

"She even knows who tortured Justitia into Triggering." Glory Girl growled. This made all of New Wave and the Protectorate stand straighter. A Trigger Event was no laughing matter, especially to First Generation Parahumans. A Trigger Event was the worst day of their lives, when they were at their weakest, when everything about them broke down and was reborn as a Parahuman.

Most of the time, Triggering was as the result of coincidence, pure happenstance. Other times, such as with Armsmaster, it was a drawn out affair that boiled over one day after years of frustration. The very worst times though were when it was as a result of human cruelty. Those who Triggered as a result of the last category were almost always powerful Parahumans, something that villain organisations such as Gesellschaft had noted and experimented with.

" _Ready? Then let us begin…_ " Hamelin said before putting the flute in his hands to his lips. Moving faster than a human normally should be able to, Justitia charged towards the villain with her sword made ready for a stab.

With a three-note tune from his flute, Hamelin was surrounded by a dome of light that blocked Justitia's path to him. Ignoring this fact, the sword-wielding Cape struck the barrier like a giant ballista bolt. Cracks appeared on the dome, spreading outwards from the point of impact amid Hamelin's uttered oath of surprise.

"Get the bastard!" Glory Girl cheered, ignoring the chiding 'Language!' from her mother and aunt.

As if she had heard the tiara-wearing Cape's encouragement, Justitia drew her sword back and swiped hard at the barrier, shattering it. Miss Militia, who had entered just then, peered at the sword as it completed its arc.

"There was a glow around her weapon as she swung it." The heroine stated. "Some sort of Striker effect?"

"Her powers are like an RPG game character." Kid Win repeated. "This includes Character Classes. The one she's using right now is [Swordswoman], which gives her the ability to use a sword, as well as 'Skills' involving a sword. The two that she used just now she referred to as 'Blade Charge' and 'Blade Sweep' which are seemingly basic moves that increase the power of the strikes."

Powers, Piggot sighed to herself, were so entirely bizarre.

"What I want to know is how we are seeing all of this." Armsmaster rumbled as Hamelin and Justitia clashed repeatedly on the screen. "Dragon, any ideas?"

" _The signal is being beamed straight to the PRT Building and funnelled down through the network to this TV set._ " Dragon spoke from another screen on the wall. " _I have no clue how it's getting here or where it is coming from. Judging from the reports of captured Tinkers that the Wards brought back, I would guess that the tech comes from one of them. I wouldn't even begin to know how to reverse-track it._ "

"Terrific." Piggot groaned. She was going to have to put everyone through Master/Stranger Protocols, wasn't she? She really should do it now, but knew that the Wards and the two young ones from New Wave were going to want to see this through to the end.

Onscreen, Hamelin had been forced back by Justitia's advance until he suddenly flew up, a shimmering shield surrounding his body as he took off. One that made Glory Girl howl in indignity.

"That's _my_ goddamn power!"

" _That's Glory Girl's powerset you're using!_ " Justitia exclaimed onscreen. " _She was only ever asleep here, not unconscious! How do you have her powers!?_ "

" _Unconscious can mean a lot of things, girl._ " Hamelin sneered down at her. " _I fully usurp their powers if someone is knocked out in my dimension, trapping them like that unless woken by an external source. If someone just sleeps here, I usually gain at least_ some _of their powers; although it is both temporary and I can only use them here. As Glory Girl is a mere imitation Alexandria Package, she is not my first choice to use, but needs must when demons drive!_ "

With him swooping all over the place now, firing off various solid light constructs as projectiles, Justitia was having a much harder time of it now.

" _What's the matter 'Justitia'?_ " he gloated. " _Can't fly, can you?_ "

"Smug bastard." Panacea muttered.

Justitia dodged and slashed at the flying objects, deflecting them, but didn't manage to avoid a couple, which slammed into her side, sending her flying. She recovered in mid-air though and managed to land on her feet before tearing off towards the town.

"Smart thinking." Lady Photon nodded in approval. "Hamelin isn't used to being a flier, so Justitia will be able to use his inexperience against him in the more restricted environment of the town."

"The place is made of cheap wood and badly built brick." Glory Girl disagreed. "I coulda smashed through it easy. So could Aegis."

"And thus so can Hamelin…still, he isn't used to being a Flier or a Brute." Her aunt persisted. "Hamelin has displayed Shaker and ground-based Mover powers, not to mention the Tinkertech screens you told me about earlier, but no Brute or flight-based Mover powers. It takes quite some time to become accustomed to them, as you well know. That inexperience may prove beneficial to your new friend, Glory Girl."

" _Come back here!_ " Hamelin shouted and fired off coloured blasts that had Gallant cursing.

"My emotional blasts! Damn, this sucks." The empath grumbled. His girlfriend patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"This is highly unpleasant to watch." Miss Militia was twitching with every close hit that the Independent Heroine dodged on the screen. "Dragon, isn't there _any_ way to track this dimension's entry aperture down?"

" _I wish there were._ " The Tinker sounded just as frustrated as Miss Militia felt. " _Dimensional Tinkertech is hard to come by, so Masamune and myself haven't had the chance to analyse any. There_ was _one Tinker in Canberra who was skilled at dimensional phenomena and would have been more than willing to help, but he either died or got turned into a Ziz Bomb in last month's Endbringer attack._ "

"Dammit…" Miss Militia cursed.

The rest of the room ignored the interplay between the Tinker and Heroine, focussing instead on the battle onscreen, as the brown-clad heroine reached the outskirts of the town.

 _With Justitia_

I panted as I practically flew through the gates of the town. It was so damn unfair that he now had access to the powers of all of the Wards, Glory Girl and Panacea. Not only that, he was able to mix and match them, because Gallant sure as hell couldn't fly without his armour and I was pretty sure he'd just blasted at me with a beam of some sort!

"Come back here!" Hamelin roared from above and behind me. Jeez, what an obstinate dickhead!

With him able to fly now, I had to improvise. Restrict his flying space with the buildings, as I doubt he wants to destroy the walls that he built (however sloppily built they may be) and have to go through the ordeal of rebuilding them later.

I ducked into the alley between the first couple of buildings I found and broke through the window of the one to my left. It was a multi-story building (how did Hamelin build these, anyway?), so there were at least three floors including the roof.

"Accursed child! Come out so I can take your power!"

Fat chance.

Stealthily, I headed up the steps to the roof and peered out, seeing that he was floating in the middle of the street, randomly shooting the buildings around him with Gallant's Blaster power. Oh, how I wished that I could fly.

Fortunately, my improved physical stats meant that roof hopping was a very real reality. After ducking, jumping and hiding, I put more power into a jump and leapt at Hamelin, sword drawn back. He wheeled around just in time for me to score a cut right across his neck that would have ripped his throat out had Glory Girl's shield not stopped the blade of my weapon. I grabbed his arm before I sped past him and used him as leverage to throw myself above him again, raining blow after blow down onto his body.

Glory Girl had explained to me that most of her defensive Brute power was a shield around her body that let her mimic the invincibility of an Alexandria-type. A certain amount of damage over a period of time, or a lot of damage all at once, was what it took to bring it down, and it took a handful of seconds to regenerate and restore itself, long enough for someone to do serious damage if they were quick enough.

This had been after a couple of giant rats had clawed her leg in the outer chambers. Now I was using that knowledge against Hamelin. The shield finally broke and I scored a shallow cut down his chest. As I drew the sword back for another strike, he finally exploded at me.

" _ **ENOUGH!**_ "

In an instant, the space between us was several meters wide…Vista's power. I spun and landed on the roof that Hamelin had conveniently positioned me over. I noted that he had rushed to the ground awfully quickly there. Had his store of Glory Girl's power run out? If so, good. One potentially killer power, down and out.

"What's the matter, Pied Piper? Running out of juice?" I called at him as I moved to the edge of the roof. Although his face was in the dark from the shadow of his hood, I could tell that he was glowering at me. And, judging by how he hadn't blasted me with Gallant's emotion lasers, he'd probably run out there as well.

"Stumble in the darkness!" he hissed and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded in a cloud of darkness. Right, this was Grue's power. Gallant had told me that it was an obscuring cloud that no-one could see through, but I also noticed that sounds were distorted and I had no sense of where anything was either.

Fortunately, I had a counter to this situation. "[ **Justice is Blind]!** "

With a hum of power, my sword's blade glowed white and I heard a shout of panic as Grue's darkness was also inflicted on him, along with the sound distortion effect. So **[Justice is Blind]** _did_ work on Shaker powers. Good to know.

Evidently tired of being blinded, Hamelin dispelled the darkness on me, which also removed it from himself. He was standing slightly closer than when I had last seen him and was _definitely_ glaring up at me now.

' _I think he might be a_ touch _peeved at you, Mistress._ ' Iustitia opined.

' _No shit._ ' I thought back quickly.

"You have a set of scales that decreases the strength of your enemies, a sword that can somehow reflect powers back at their user and a club that hits like a Brute…what the hell _are_ you?!" Hamelin demanded.

"Your worst nightmare." I shot back before leaping at him from the top of the building with my sword raised. In response, Hamelin created a sword out of light and raised it to parry. We clashed, with me getting thrown back at the same time as his sword shattering.

"Dammit…that's three powers used up already!" Hamelin hissed quietly, but I was still able to hear him.

Ha! Looks like he used up the last of Lightray's power too. Three down, who knows how many more to go. The joy.

" _You…_ " Hamelin glowered at me. "I am going to make you _pay_ for this!"

"I would like to see you try." I scoffed. "So far all you've done is run around like an idiot blasting things randomly with powers you only barely know the basics of. You became too used to letting your minions do the fighting and never practiced your powers for any decent length of time. Am I right?"

The twitch of one hand betrayed how accurately my guess had landed. What a waste of such a flexible power. What I could do with it…

I shook my head slightly. If wishes were fishes, we'd all be eating seafood. I was happy with Iustitia and my power was kicking Hamelin's ass at the moment.

"DIE!" he shouted, charging towards me, obviously drawing on the power of another flier now that the small reserve of Glory Girl's power he had possessed was used up. Aegis' power, perhaps?

My **[Swordsman's Eye]** skill told me he was going to launch a punch at my head, so I ducked and stabbed upwards, impaling his arm with Iustitia's sword form, eliciting a strangled snarl of pain from Hamelin. I then twisted it around and ripped it free of his arm, which annoyingly started to regenerate. One of the Capes he had captured must have been a regenerator. How irritating.

"Precognition now? Just how many powers do you have?!" he snarled. I realised quickly that he was tapping into Tattletale's own power now, which was a pain. From what little had been said about it, she could kind of cold-read people with frightening accuracy.

"More than you think and less than I want." I jibed at him. Then we got back to trying to hit each other. Unfortunately, he kept getting under the reach of my sword when he was this close to me, so I decided to show him my _close_ close combat weapon.

"Iustitia, Form Shift!" I called out as I backpedalled away from a roundhouse kick. "Form Two!"

"Aye, Mistress!" Iustitia cried and, in a blaze of light, my tipstaff appeared in my hand, replacing the sword and scales. With a shout, I used the club skill **[Mighty Blow]** and slammed the club into Hamelin's body, sending him back several meters and right into a wall. I winced when the wall collapsed on top of him.

' _Iustitia, exactly how low is my stamina right now?_ ' I asked silently.

' _You have less than 800 Stamina remaining, Mistress._ ' My Embryo replied instantly.

I blinked in surprise. I'd only been fighting for just over three minutes! ' _How exactly did my Stamina deplete so fast? I fought against giant rats and the humanoid projections for longer than this before my Stamina dropped so low!_ '

' _I suspect that Hamelin possesses a Stamina leeching power and used it to try and drain you dry of Stamina in the first few minutes of the fight._ ' Iustitia answered thoughtfully. ' _Even now the Stamina consumption is almost double what it normally is. Thankfully you are wearing the helm that you received from the_ **[Rat King of Hamelin]** _, so the power of his Shaker Effect was reduced greatly as well._ '

Sneaky bastard. Guess he didn't hear me talking to the Wards earlier about what my **[Cudgel of the Law]** could do. Wearing down my stamina was a Bad Idea thanks to this bad boy -or bad girl as it's Iustitia- of a club.

"RAAAGGGHHH!" Hamelin roared in fury as he forced his way out of his temporary prison. His cloak was ripped and torn in places and trickles of blood seeped from cuts and wounds all over his body. I also noticed that although he was straightening, he was also being very careful about it. Looks like whatever regenerator whose power he is using isn't very good at dealing with internal injuries.

"I'll kill you! I don't even _care_ about your power anymore!" Hamelin shrieked, now completely enraged beyond all reason. "I'll kill you, then track down and torture your family to death! Yes… _then_ you'll regret getting in my way. It'll serve you right!"

Ice and fear seized my heart in a death grip. He could do it, if for no other reason than he knew what I looked like underneath my mask and helmet. If he got away, he would keep his word. He'd discover my real name. He'd track down my Dad, my only living family. And he would kill me, then him.

No.

"No you won't." I snarled back. "I'll end your threat here, once and for all!"

This actually seemed to amuse him. "Foolish girl. If I die, this dimension will collapse." He scoffed. "And even if you somehow _miraculously_ manage to escape, the useless PRT and Protectorate will pursue you for murder!"

"Justified self-defence." I growled back. "Plus, I really wouldn't be surprised if you have a Kill Order on you. Kidnapping Wards AND Panacea? If New Wave isn't leading the charge for a Kill Order for you, I'd be very surprised."

Now he was veering back to being angry. "My goal is a short distance away and you dare to stand in my path." Hamelin snarled. "I shall not allow it!"

"What the hell even _is_ your goal?!" I demanded.

"I seek the deaths of every S-Class and A-Class Parahuman on the North American Continent." The robed lunatic stated fervently. "Hero, villain, rogue…I don't care what they call themselves. A fight between A-Class Capes killed my family! Then the Slaughterhouse Nine rolled in and murdered my girlfriend! They'll _pay_! They all **have to PAY**!"

Uh-oh. Houston, we have a nutcase here. He was mad…mad with grief and loss.

Suddenly, Hamelin's form shifted, blurred and then several more Hamelins appeared in a circle around me. I looked around wildly. A cloning power?! What fresh hell was this?!

Raising their hands, the clones plus the original fired chunks of ice that appeared from nowhere at me! I dodged a lot of them, but one dinged off my helmet and sent me to my knees, dazed. It was then that Hamelin's clones vanished and I was hit with an ice boulder the size of a hotdog cart.

I think I blacked out for a moment because I woke up abruptly, feeling a lot of pain. I stared blankly at the cavern's ceiling for a moment.

' _Iustitia?_ ' I asked weakly.

' _MISTRESS! You're OK! Thank any god that exists!_ ' my Embryo yelled in relief. ' _You were only unconscious for a minute or so. Hamelin himself is exhausted and has not yet come at you again._ '

'HP?' I enquired.

' _Less than fifty._ ' Iustitia answered. ' _Apparently, being struck while afflicted with_ **[Dazed]** _raises the damage you receive by a set percentage. Were it not for your armoured costume and new helm, you would be defeated right now._ '

Perfect. Just great. I made a note to ask why she referred to it a 'defeated' as opposed to 'dead' at a later time.

I groaned aloud and shakily, carefully, sat up. Looking around, I saw Hamelin whip his head up and around to stare at me in disbelief.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" he shouted. " _No one_ who loses consciousness in my dimension through artificial means can _ever_ wake up themselves! What _are_ you?!"

"As I said before…your worst nightmare." I answered in a pained voice as I once more staggered to my feet, **[Cudgel of the Law]** in hand. I personally suspected that it had been Iustitia who had woken me up with her frantic calling, but I'd figure it out later.

"You…!" he seethed before visibly forcing himself to remain calm. "No…it doesn't really matter. Your left arm is broken, at the very least and I imagine simply standing up is painful for you. No matter what you do, it's hopeless."

Blinking, I looked down at my left arm and sure enough, it was broken halfway down the forearm. Looks like my **[Pain Resistance]** Skill was helping at this point, along with the adrenaline rush.

What he said was a bit true; I was far too badly wounded to attempt close combat again. I had a plan though, and communicated it to Iustitia at the speed of thought.

Hamelin stated to wearily walk forward, shaping a sword out of ice as he went. "I give you praise for pushing me to this extent. No one has done so in my entire time as a Cape. Any last requests?"

"Yeah…as a matter of fact, I do." I drawled. "Stay still."

Quick as a flash, the tipstaff vanished from my hand, which then flew into my pouch and withdrew Kid Win's Laser Pistol. I levelled it at Hamelin, feeling everything going into slow motion as I did it.

"Gun beats sword, you son of a bitch." I said coldly before I pulled the trigger.

 _ **Tsshew!**_

Red light burst from the muzzle of the weapon, which was still set to lethal mode, and stabbed through the space between Hamelin and me, piercing through the centre of his hood and out the back in a blink of an eye. Just as I was, he was too spent from using so many powers one after the other, especially that cloning one. He couldn't move fast enough. Hell even with his health and energy at max there was one thing he couldn't do.

Outrun light.

The hood fell back as Hamelin's body collapsed, revealing the face of a middle-aged man. Clean shaven, a little too thin, a slight overbite and a weak chin. He looked like any guy you would see walking down the street…aside from the gaping hole through the centre of his face.

A second later, time went back to normal and Hamelin's corpse hit the ground with a dull thud.

 **You have slain the Unique Boss Monster [Hamelin, the Pied Piper]! You gain 1500 EXP!**

 **Generating Boss Loot…generated!**

 **You receive [Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper]!**

I clapped a hand over my mouth as my gorge rose. I had just killed someone. Granted, it was kill or be killed, but still…

 **[Congratulation!]**

 **You have levelled up! Your level has automatically been assigned a class due to the manner in which you slew the boss!**

 **You are now a [Gunslinger] (LV2)!**

 **[Dexterity] Stat unlocked! Starting Dexterity: 15!**

 **You gain 20 Dexterity!**

 **You gain 20 Wisdom! (10 from Gunslinger Class, 10 from Iustitia, Maiden of Justice)**

 **You gain 10 Intelligence!**

 **You gain the [Quickdraw] Skill!**

 **You gain the [Improved Accuracy] Skill!**

 **It is highly suggested that you equip your new cloak at once, as the dimension you are in is about to collapse!**

Shaking my head, I realise that the voice was right; the entirety of the cavern was… _melting_ , for lack of a better term. I hurriedly pulled my mirror out and had a look at the cloak in question.

 **[Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper]**

 **Rarity: Epic**

 **A cloak formed from the Parahuman power of Hamelin, the Pied Piper. One of his powers was the ability to create, sustain and travel to and from a dimensional pocket. This cloak allows the wearer to travel to any pocket dimension they are aware of, as well as return to where they entered the pocket. It also increases the wearer's stats by a modest margin and has two known active abilities and one unknown ability.**

 **Worn Ability: [Dimension Step]: Simply by focussing on the dimensional pocket you wish to enter, you can take a step forward and be there. To leave, simply picture your entry location and step.**

 **Active Ability #1: [Dimensional Shift]: Allows the user to 'shift' to any location within ten meters of themselves. Ten second cooldown after use.**

 **Active Ability #2: [Dimension Warping Barrier]: Creates a barrier to protect that exists in three separate dimensions at once and is able to withstand a tank's main cannon firing at it for five minutes straight. Five minute cooldown after use.**

 **Active Ability #3: [?]: Unknown.**

I equipped it, replacing the rat one, and a knee-length cloak appeared over my shoulders. It shimmered with all the colours of the rainbow and was (somehow) fluttering in a breeze that didn't exist. Great, I've got a dramatic piece of equipment.

Taking a deep breath, I dredged up the sidewalk I'd been walking along when Hamelin had picked me up. Taking one last look at the Cape -the first man- that I had killed, I concentrated hard on that road and sidewalk and stepped forwards.

 **Whew. This took** _ **way**_ **longer than expected. Mostly because I discovered the madcap antics of How Ridiculous on YouTube. Those guys are funny as hell. Seriously, I HAD to watch their videos, couldn't stop. A curse upon my fascination with people doing ridiculous things in the name of fun and awesomeness…**

 **So, someone commented a while back that seeing Taylor meet the Undersiders all the time is boring. I will grant you that, but I do it because I like them, even Regent (!?) for some odd reason. See you later. Read and review, if you please!**


	85. Justice For All Arc 1 Epilogue

**Justice For All: First Arc Epilogue (Original chapter Chapter 78)**

 _That Night_

 _Living Room, Hebert Residence_

So then. I had been kidnapped by an insane, vengeful and immoral Parahuman, been forced to fight for my life against giant rats and human projections, not to mention the big rat king, and it had all culminated in a life-or-death duel against the mastermind Hamelin himself, in which I had used Kid Win's Laser Pistol to Indiana Jones the bastard.

All of that had been scary in and of itself. But I had also just been forced to undergo something even scarier than all that combined…I'd had to tell my Dad the whole story.

Rather predictably, he was currently pacing a path in the carpet, trying to keep his temper under control.

"Of all the…! Could've been _killed_ …!" I heard him muttering. He wasn't going to be talking to me any time soon until he worked all that anger out of his system, so I decided to focus on something more practical; my stats.

 **Name:** **Taylor Hebert**

 **Cape** **Name:** **Justitia**

 **Gender:** **Female**

 **Level:** **10**

 **Title:** **None (*)**

 **Job (s):** **(1) Swordsman (LV6)**

 **(2) Maceman (LV2)**

 **(3) Gunslinger (LV2)**

 **EXP:** **273/700**

 **Embryo:** **Maiden of Justice Iustitia**

 **Embryo Type:** **Maiden with Arms**

 **Embryo Forms Achieved:** **3/7**

 **Stats**

 **HP: 840**

 **STA: 2800**

 **MP: 425**

 **Strength: 52**

 **Toughness: 50**

 **Endurance: 52**

 **Dexterity: 35**

 **Intelligence: 80**

 **Wisdom: 85**

 **Luck: ?**

Overall, I was kinda impressed with my stats here. My HP, Stamina and MP had all risen dramatically; for some reason the normal bonuses from my attributes going up hadn't been applied to them until after I had left Hamelin's Dimension Pocket, but Iustitia had told me that it was a small bug caused by my kidnapping by Hamelin and that she had corrected the problem, so it was good with me.

My mental stats were, bluntly put, awesome. I could almost feel smarter than I was before, and I hadn't exactly been weak there in the first place. Physically, I was much improved, so much so I was going to have to be careful not to hurt people without meaning to.

' _As an Embryo Master, you only possess the strength of your stats when in combat or when you focus on them, Mistress._ ' Iustitia informed me. ' _You could no more harm someone with your strength than you could unmake the sun._ '

Huh. Good to know.

As for my new skills, the one I got with my brand new Gunslinger class, **[Quickdraw]** was something like a mental speed boost skill that let me snap off the first shot against the enemy quickly and with precision, basically letting my mind move fast to target the enemy and boosting my Dexterity for the duration of the first shot. Dexterity, as it so happened, was the stat used to determine accuracy, as well as all sorts of other minor things like bonuses to hit with close combat weapons and slightly increased chances to inflict critical hits.

 **[Improved Accuracy]** was only active if I had a projectile weapon equipped and it granted me a small bonus to my Dexterity dependent on my Gunslinger class' level. Like Swordsman and Maceman, Gunslinger was a common job, with the Rare Jobs being Cowboy and Deputy, while the Superior Jobs were Lone Ranger and Gundancer.

"…aylor! Taylor!" Dad's voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at him tiredly.

"Hmm? Sorry, I'm exhausted." I said yawning briefly.

The anger and anxiety on his face softened, and then broke completely as he reflexively yawned too. It was one in the morning, after all, and neither of us had had anything approaching a normal day thanks to Hamelin.

"OK Little Owl, to bed with you." He said with a sigh. "I'll call in sick for you tomorrow and when I get home, we are going to have a _talk_ about all of this…OK?"

Translation: A lecture on 'Why Taylor's going to join the Wards as soon as the paperwork can be signed' by Daniel 'Danny' Hebert.

I wasn't necessarily _against_ the idea for the most part, but…

"OK Dad. Thanks." I smiled up at him and staggered up to my bedroom, stopping off in the bathroom to clean my teeth and perform the usual last minute ablutions before going to bed.

' _The Wards, aside from Aegis, seemed to be nice people._ ' Iustitia noted as I happily snuggled into my bed. I was never going to take soft sheets and a warm duvet for granted again. ' _Why are you so hesitant about joining them?_ '

I struggled with that for a moment, trying to put my confused feelings into words. ' _Because…because the Wards aren't_ really _Capes. They dress the part, sure, and they do get flung into the thick of things every now and again, as today proved, but the main reason they're Wards is twofold; protection and training. Protection from being strong-armed into joining the gangs or killed by them, and given training in how to use their powers. We don't need training in how to use my powers, so the last one's flop for us._ '

' _But alone, against the combined might of the lawbreakers in this city, we are vulnerable._ ' Iustitia pointed out softly. ' _They would overwhelm us with weight of numbers._ '

' _If we strode into battle against them as I did against Hamelin's monsters, then yes._ ' I conceded as I stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. 'But unlike in that dimensional pocket, we don't kill here, Iustitia. Not unless they have a Kill Order on their heads or it's to protect innocent lives. Plus, the gangs are disorganised unless a serious threat shows up. All we have to do is spread our actions out across all of them so it doesn't look as if we're going after them fanatically.'

' _You have put a great deal of thought into this, Mistress._ ' My Embryo said without any surprise in her mental 'voice.'

' _When my life's gonna be on the line, of course I'm going to._ ' I scoffed.

' _There's something more, isn't there?_ ' the Maiden Embryo pressed.

' _Yes._ ' I admitted. ' _The Wards, as I noted, are not combat Capes by design or intent, usually. They fight every now and again in other cities, but they get more than their fair share of combat in Brockton Bay. That still means they are kept away from actually fighting crime as much as possible. I want to make a difference, Iustitia. I want to uphold justice. But the Protectorate has been failing at it from lack of manpower for years. In this case…I think justice needs to stand alone in order to be effective._ '

There was silence for a moment before Iustitia started to laugh.

' _Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Indeed! Let us stand alone and enact justice on this city, Mistress!_ '

 **[Embryo Evolution! Third Stage Evolution Confirmed!]**

 **Mapping all 504 evolutionary paths…**

 **Selecting best possible evolution for Embryo Master's will and determination…**

… **Completed.**

 **Third Form: [The Lone Gun and Star of Frontier Justice]!**

…what?

Blinking in disbelief, I materialised Iustitia's Third Form in my hand. It resembled an old six-shooter revolver from the Old West, except it was blocky and rectangular as opposed to cylindrical. The only exception was the revolving cylinder. Also, the whole thing was shining with silver light.

I also felt a slight weight on my chest and looked down, seeing a five pointed silver star pinned to my pyjamas over my heart.

' _OK…so what can these bad boys do?_ ' I asked my Embryo.

' _Each possessed two abilities, for a total of four._ ' Iustitia replied. ' _The star has_ **[One Riot, One Ranger]** _and_ **[Always Alone, Never Put To Flight]** _,_ _while the revolver has a standard ability to automatically reload ten seconds after the last chamber is emptied, as well as_ **[Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy]** _and_ **[The Bullet Strikes True]** _._ '

 **[One Riot, One Ranger]** was similar to **[Order in Court]** in that it let me deal extra damage when faced with multiple enemies. The main difference was that it was a set amount that was granted whenever I was faced with any more than a single enemy at a time. It also raised my defence and Dexterity at the same time.

 **[Always Alone, Never Put To Flight]** was a Passive Skill that applied subtle pressure to those who fought me. The more enemies I faced and the longer I fought them, the greater this pressure would become until they would eventually break down and run…at least those who weren't strong minded or strong willed. Or even just plain stubborn. The secondary effect was that if I aimed at someone touched by this Skill, I would gain a bonus to my Dexterity and damage.

 **[Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy]** could only be used once per day, which kind of sucked, but its effect was quite powerful. In order to use it, I had to successfully shoot the enemy I wanted to target with the skill at least once before invoking the skill. Once active, _all_ of my attacks against that target, for the rest of the day, would deal triple damage against it, even if I switched to another Form of Iustitia. The downside was that if I did use it, I was then prohibited from attacking the target for five minutes afterwards and it used exactly half of my Stamina, regardless of the actual amount of Stamina I had, in order to invoke the skill.

 **[The Bullet Strikes True]** was a rather useful skill as well. I could spend Stamina or MP in order to make trick shots that would strike only what I wanted them to strike. I could designate the weapons, even a specific part of the weapons, and my bullets would ricochet around until they hit that part. Of course, obstacles could be interposed in the melee of combat, so keeping things as simple as possible was the best idea.

That wasn't all. When Iustitia advanced to her Third Form, the range and strength of the abilities of the other two forms were increased. Not by much, just an extra ten meters, range-wise and just another five points apiece, power wise. Still, I'd take any kind of bonus in a fight, no matter how low.

Letting Iustitia return to her crest in my hand, I started to feel really drowsy. What a day it had been! I was so going to sleep until midday tomorrow.

As I dropped off, I remembered that I still had Kid Win's Laser Pistol in my inventory. I made a note to find a way to return it at some point, with my thanks. It would have been much, _much_ more difficult to defeat Hamelin without it.

 _The Next Day_

 _Director's Office, PRT Building_

Feeling very much refreshed after a good night's sleep and a session with the dialysis machine, Emily Piggot now faced the issue of exactly what to do about Justitia, the new Independent Hero who had, she admitted privately to herself, gone above and beyond the call of duty in saving the Wards, the Undersiders and the two youngest members of New Wave.

"So." She said to Armsmaster and Miss Militia, who were standing in front of her desk along with Deputy Director Renick. "Opinions of the Power Ratings for each of Justitia's known abilities?"

"The counter-Shaker skill she uses with the sword is almost certainly a Shaker/Trump effect." Miss Militia mused aloud. "I'd rate it at Trump/Shaker 3 at least for both range and utility."

"Hm." Armsmaster nodded in agreement. "The physical ability reduction field she has is a pure Shaker effect though. Shaker 5 or 6, although the fact it works best on opponents stronger than she is makes it problematic to use, I would imagine."

"Too much physical ability is sometimes worse than too little, especially if you aren't used to it." Miss Militia countered. "Imagine a baseline human being hit with that and then trying to jump; he'd put himself into a wall. Even a Parahuman would be thrown off balance with that power."

Piggot nodded in agreement. Miss Militia may have turned down the post of Head of the Protectorate ENE due to her disinclination to lead, but she was a very smart and analytical woman without being smug about it.

"Very well. So noted." She entered the rating onto her computer. "And the 'tipstaff' that she possesses?"

"Both abilities she has displayed with it are passive effects that synergise so well together that they may as well be a single power." The Tinker stated. "The ability to inflict greater damage when faced by multiple opponents and the ability to become stronger the more physical stamina you have used up until that point, as well as slowing down the rate at which you expend physical stamina. I'd agree with Kid Win in that combined, it's a Trump/Striker 5."

"I'd rate it slightly higher if she is faced by large numbers of enemies." Miss Militia demurred. "If she was using it when confronted by thirty or so of the ABB or Empire…"

"Yes, agreed. I'll enter it as Trump/Striker 5 (Variable)." The Director nodded. Ratings with 'Variable' in them usually meant that the upper limits of the power either hadn't been plumbed (in the case of Protectorate Capes) or hadn't been witnessed (in the case of Villains, Rogues and Independents). They were usually quite rare, as powers were rarely as flexible or as nebulous as Justitia's powerset seemed to be.

' _And she apparently has five more unknown weapon 'evolutions' to go._ ' The Director shuddered slightly. The variation in the powers that Justitia showed was impressive, but the speed at which she was becoming stronger was also troubling.

"And finally…her 'RPG' powerset." Emily asked evenly. That had been the most difficult part to believe, but she was going to assume it was at least partially true.

"Trump/Shaker 10, easily." Armsmaster stated immediately. "It influences not only herself but her surroundings to a somewhat incredible degree. The variation in her 'Job Classes' must allow her to change and adapt to her situation as and when it is required. Given sufficient time, I could see her becoming Triumvirate-tier, even without her 'Embryo' at her side."

"Yes…her projection possesses a power of its own, so it seems." Piggot frowned. "Ranged healing, albeit slow."

"And dependent of Justitia's physical stamina." Miss Militia pointed out. "Shaker 3, I'd put it as with the small amount of information we currently have."

Emily sighed and sat back on her comfortable chair. It was custom made for her and had been one of the few luxuries she indulged in at work, although it was really a necessity as her damaged and corpulent body wore out regular office chairs far too quickly.

"How is the M/S screening going?" she moved on. All of the Protectorate, Wards and New Wave who had watched the final confrontation between Hamelin and Iustitia the previous day had been put into Master/Stranger Protocols as soon as the feed had cut, including her. It was now roughly time for everyone to leave, but she, Armsmaster and Miss Militia had been released a bit early to get some items on the agenda sorted out.

"Brandish is still furious." Renick said with a tired sigh.

"Bully for her." Piggot sniffed. "She, and the rest of New Wave, are PRT allies, so they agreed to M/S Protocols when they became such. Anyone else?"

"No, the rest are resigned to the necessity of it, albeit unhappy about it." The PRT ENE Second in Command replied. "It's a good thing we told Arcadia to close for the day, otherwise there might have been questions asked about the Wards' presence. Vista's school accepted the sick note we requested her parents to sign for just such an emergency."

"Good. Any sign that anyone was Mastered?"

"None." Armsmaster answered gruffly. "Hamelin seemed to have preferred going after less subtle powers aside from the occasional Thinker, such as Tattletale. Even then, Thinkers were seemingly very much a tertiary concern for him."

"On the subject of Hamelin." Dragon popped up on a screen built into the wall.

"You found him?" Piggot asked sharply.

The world's foremost Tinker nodded grimly and a small photo of a man resembling Hamelin without the laser hole in the centre of his face appeared on the screen to replace her face. Then a family picture replaced it.

"His name was Anthony Lebowski, age thirty-nine." Dragon reported. "Formerly a resident of Albany, Capital District, New York State. Married to Jessica Lebowski, 35, with three children, Angela, 10, Samuel, 7, and Mary-Jane, 3, respectively. Four years ago, the New York Protectorate, including Legend, fought against members of the Elite there, the collateral damage of which resulted in the deaths of his family, including his wife, children, siblings and parents. Two years and one month ago, the Slaughterhouse Nine, as you know, rampaged through Albany, resulting in the death of Mr Lebowski's girlfriend, Emily Cole, at the hands of either Bonesaw or Shatterbird. It is uncertain at this time which event caused him to trigger or if he Triggered both times. He went missing a week after the Nine left. Two weeks later, the Independent Hero Mistral vanished without a trace. Mistral was one of the Capes recovered by the Wards from Hamelin's dimensional pocket."

"Dear god in heaven." Emily shook her head. The man must have snapped after losing someone again after rebuilding his life from the first time. She opened a drawer and pulled out a red form that made the other occupants of the room stiffen slightly; a Kill Order authorisation form.

"This form has been signed by Chief Director Costa-Brown, sanctioning the death of Hamelin." She said slowly. "I have also signed it, but not yet dated it. I am leaning towards making the time and date of the legal licence to kill authorisation yesterday, at the time that the Wards were abducted."

"Why haven't you dated it then?" Renick asked in surprise.

"Because I also received a call from Alexandria yesterday, asking to do what I can to recruit Justitia into the Protectorate." Emily informed him. "I can only suppose that a Thinker informed her of who dealt with Hamelin. Opinions?"

"Do not use the Kill Order as a threat to coerce her." Miss Militia advised immediately.

"She was the one who deliberately set things up as a one-on-one confrontation with him." The Director remarked as she picked up a pen and tapped it against the desk's surface.

"It was a no-win situation." Armsmaster disagreed. "Either Justitia betrayed the Wards, Undersiders and the two New Wave member in order to flee herself, or she stayed behind to let the others go free. She saw that and chose the option that saved as many people as was possible. She was clearly willing to die in order to stop Hamelin's rampage."

This made Piggot raise both eyebrows in surprise. Armsmaster was rarely the type to go against the wishes of those higher up on the food chain than he was. Alexandria's 'request' was a not-so subtle hint to use the Kill Order to apply pressure to Justitia in order to get her into the Wards ASAP. Generally speaking, a request from one of the Triumvirate was usually promptly followed through with, but in this case…

"Agreed." She nodded and scribbled down a specific date and time, indicating yesterday at five minutes to four. She also brought up the Kill Order's digital copy and entered the same numbers.

"Hamelin, the Pied Piper, was rated by Protectorate Thinkers as an A-Class Parahuman in terms of actual threat, but S-Class in terms of his allegorical and potential future threat level, so there is a substantial bounty ready to be released to Justitia for ending his threat, with the thanks of both the United States Government and the Parahuman Response Team." Emily Piggot said crisply. "All members of the Protectorate and Wards are directed to keep an eye out for the Independent Heroine Justitia so we can arrange the transfer of funds to an account for her use. Renick, please file this form in the Cold Vault."

She handed him the Kill Order Authorisation Form, which was received very gingerly.

"Yes Director." Miss Militia nodded, Armsmaster a beat behind her.

"Good. Then get to it." She said in dismissal. She still had paperwork to do.

 **OK, so…after careful consideration and some deliberation with my Muse…Ok. I** _ **will**_ **make this a full story. You've all twisted my arm into it. But I will repeat that these stories are to inspire** _ **other people**_ **to write Worm stories. So if anyone IS interested, please give one a try. Pretty please?**

 **On that note, Justice for All will** _ **not**_ **be posted as a separate story until June, as I am** _ **way**_ **behind on my writing due to several irritating happenings IRL, not to mention being a chronic procrastinator, so hold yer horses until June, dammit!**

 **And, for all of you crying out 'Something other than this story, dammit!', I will post something for the Asylum inside of the next two weeks. Later.**


	86. Demon Lord of the Swarm

' _In the end…w-we're s-so…s-small…_ '

Those words, plus my one remaining hand reaching up to the stars above me, were the last things I remembered before I woke up again.

Awaking with a jerk, I looked around frantically, trying to see where the hell I was, because I most certainly wasn't on that alien world where I last remembered being!

I was in a room that looked to be carved from stone, with eerie torches of black-tinged green fire dotted equidistantly around it. There was a large archway three times the height of a regular door set into the wall in front of me, with a pair of large stone doors set into it. Carved into the centre was a symbol, a stylised bug of some sort.

Looking down at myself to assess my injuries, I froze. Expecting to see my beaten, battered body and equally battered Weaver/Skitter costume, it was something of a shock to see a completely whole and intact body…including the arm that Scion/Zion had ripped off. The clothes I was wearing _were_ made of spider silk and the chitin armour I preferred, but they were styled as the kind of clothes you saw young noblemen wearing in The Count of Monte Cristo, albeit altered to fit a female form and with some more cosmetic changes.

I wore a pair of thigh-high boots with chitin armour over them, thin trousers that felt as if I had a great deal of flexibility in how they moved, a shirt, vest and ankle-length trench coat that were all at least lightly armoured and a pair of gloves with chitin over the back of th4e hand and knuckles so I could do a bit more damage when I punched.

It was also with a bit of shock that I realised that I was sitting down on a seat…no…a THRONE! An actual goddamn _throne_ that was carved from a single piece of rock…obsidian, I think? No way…you can't get chunks of obsidian this big, can you?

Wait…I…I wasn't…insane…?

A wave of relief filled me and I slumped back slightly in relief. I didn't know how this was possible, nor did I care. I was _sane_ again, with no chance of the rampaging goddamn 'Queen Administrator' Shard driving me insane! I could feel my power, sure, but it was just four or five times stronger than my time as Skitter/Weaver and still limited to arthropods, so whatever had put me back together had mostly undone the complete unlocking of my 'Agent' that Panacea had flubbed.

A vision of my chest flashed in my memory and I looked down at it again to confirm the accuracy of the memory.

…

Who the _hell_ gave me a _boob job?!_ I had _barely_ been a large A-Cup before, and now I was a definite large C-Cup! Maybe even a small D-Cup! These puppies were bigger than Glory Girl's!

A tinkle of bells drew me out of my slack-jawed shock at my newly increased feminine figure and a screen appeared in front of my eyes like a hologram.

 **[Welcome!]**

 **You have been reincarnated on this world of Pangea as the newest Demon Lord! Congratulations on your rebirth and promotion!**

 **As a Demon Lord, your goal is to build a dungeon to protect yourself from the invading forces of the Human and Demi-Human races! As you build a larger and larger dungeon, the amount of life-force it generates will increase, restoring life to the tired land.**

 **Unfortunately, this inundation of magic and life energy will also cause the creation and reawakening of monsters, which will attack the other races. Due to this minor unfortunate flaw, the Humans and Demi-Humans attempt to locate and purge the dungeons of Demon Lords as soon as is physically and magically possible.**

 **We apologise for the inconvenience.**

 **As a newly born Demon Lord, you likely have little to no idea how to use any of your newfound powers and abilities. To aid you in this transition, you will now go through a short tutorial on how to expand and manage your dungeon, summon monsters and improve your own abilities.**

 **First, say 'Status - Self' aloud.**

I stared at the window for a moment, debating about whether this was a twisted joke played on me by my own twisted psyche as it fell deeper into insanity or if it was reality. A quick pinch of the skin under my sleeve proved that it wasn't a dream.

OK. Whatever. I'd play along. "' _Status - Self._ '"

A new screen replaced the old one.

 **Human Name: Taylor Hebert**

 **Demonic Name: Hellebore**

 **Title: Demon Lord of the Swarm**

 **Race: Archdemon**

 **Class: Demon Lord**

 **Level: 1**

 **EXP to Next Level: 50**

 **Magic Field Slots: 3 (2/3 occupied)**

 **HP: 500**

 **MP: 500**

 **Strength: 20**

 **Endurance: 20**

 **Toughness: 20**

 **Dexterity: 25**

 **Intelligence: 30**

 **Wisdom: 35**

 **Charisma: 10**

 **Luck: ? (Error)**

 **As you can see, you are no longer human! You have been lucky enough to be reborn as an Archdemon, the second-highest rank of Demon Lord races that there is! To find out more about your new race, press the name!**

Dumfounded, I did so.

 **Archdemon: A race of demonic beings who are the second most powerful of all races chosen to be the core of a Demon Lord Dungeon. Archdemons start with most non-dungeon related stats at twenty, with bonuses for feats, achievements and abilities you possessed in your past life.**

 **Archdemons start off with the [Title] field unlocked, as well as with three magic field slots open rather than the usual two. You also have access to your Archdemon form via the [Demon Form] Skill. Archdemons also possess all of the skills, strengths and weaknesses of regular demons unless otherwise noted.**

I was still reeling, but my mind was also processing all of the information I was being given. When the screen prompted, I pressed the **[Demon Lord of the Swarm]** title.

 **Demon Lord of the Swarm: Owing to your familiarity and skill at manipulating arthropods in your previous life, this title was granted to you upon reincarnation. It grants you [Insect Magic], which is automatically allocated to the second slot in your Magic Slots, as well as locking your Primary Dungeon Monster Type as [Arthropod]. Additionally, you are granted the [Swarmbringer] and [Insect Queen] Skills.**

Interesting. Without prompting, I hit the **[Demon Lord]** class.

 **Demon Lord: A Unique Class that can only be granted to one being in a generation. It grants the being that possesses it the Authority of the Planet to create and administer a dungeon to restore life energy and magic to the surface.**

 **Demon Lords are granted the [Lordly Demonic Presence] and [Dungeon Authority] skills upon receiving this class, with further skills and boons appearing after certain landmarks are achieved in the dungeon. In addition, you are granted [Dungeon Magic], which is automatically allocated to the first of your Magic Slots.**

That…was interesting. Bursting with questions, I move on to my Magic Slots.

 **Magic Slots: A unique feature of demonic beings, Magic Slots allow them to 'junction' certain magics into these mystical places in your soul, granting you access to them and allowing you to learn by doing, rather than the Human way of practicing a spell dozens of times before being able to cast it. It also allows rapid spell growth because the magic is literally a part of your soul. In the case of Demon Lords, the magics you possess also influences what creatures, terrain and traps you can possess inside of your dungeon.**

 **Current Magic Slots:**

 **1) Dungeon Magic (LV1, Locked)**

 **2) Insect Magic (LV 1, Locked)**

 **3) EMPTY**

Uh-huh…the 'suspicious things' folder is starting to fill up here. At the prompting of the little box, I said 'Skills' aloud.

 **Skills**

 **Nigh Invulnerable Demonic Body (LV MAX): {Passive} As a member of the Demon race, you have a body stronger and more resilient than most of the other races. As an Archdemon, this trait is taken to extremes. Mundane weaponry (IE, weapons without magical enchantment, the blessing of a god, chi enhancement or some other form of supernatural enhancement) will suffer from a 98% reduction in damage when used against you, which is reduced to an 88% reduction if used in combination with the user's skills. This is a skill automatically given to members of the Demon Race.**

 **[Demon Form] (LVMAX): {Active} As an Archdemon, you possess two forms: your Human form, which you reside in currently, and your Demon Form, which you can invoke by calling out your Demonic Name and revert by uttering your Human Name. As you have not visited the [Demon Form] Customisation Screen to design it, you currently cannot use this skill. An Archdemon Racial Skill.**

 **Lordly Demonic Presence (LV 1): {Passive} As a newly-minted Demon Lord, you have the ability to command the attention of your subordinates or minions. At Level 1, you can order one subordinate around. This is a unique skill of the Demon Lord Class.**

 **Dungeon Authority (LV MAX): {Passive} You have been chosen to create a dungeon by the Will of the Planet Itself. As such, you have complete autonomy from The Will of the Planet (so it doesn't micromanage you), as well as the Gods (who will definitely try to smite you) and the Demons of the Pit (who would try to kill you in horrible ways or enslave you). To reflect this, you are able to remotely view every part of your dungeon simply by closing your eyes and willing it, costing no MP. Additionally, any follower, cultist, devotee, Paladin, Holy Knight or Hero who serves a god/goddess/pantheon of the same or demon/demoness/pantheon of the same will be unable to summon any form of Omniscience, Divine Will or any Servants/Avatars of the god/demon that they serve. Holy/Demonic Skills from creatures born outside of your dungeon will also cost twice as much MP to cast and maintain.**

 **Wise Tactical Acumen (LV 45): {Passive} In your previous life, you were skilled at making snap decisions in the whirling melee of combat, and were noted for making the right choice in the heat of the moment more often than not. This skill grants you +30% to the effectiveness of any tactical command you give using the [Lordly Demonic Presence] skill.**

 **Queen of Escalation (LV MAX): {Passive} In your previous life, you were able to become the acknowledged shadow ruler of a city, defeat one of the strongest beings on your world and fight against nigh-impossible odds…with nothing more than your own grit, determination and the low-tier power of arthropod control. To reflect that, this skill combines the effects of the skills [Feel no Pain], [True Grit], [Emotional Suppression] and [Absolute Focus], allowing you to use any two simultaneously. Additionally, your skills will level 20% faster.**

 **[Swarmbringer] (LV MAX): {Passive} You are accustomed to controlling an immense amount of lesser creatures with precision control. Reflecting that, this skill grants you the ability of your former power set that allows you to control any and all insects within your control radius with the only limit being how many there are within it. Additionally, you can also use the senses of the insects to see/hear/speak with.**

 **[Insect Queen] (LV MAX): {Passive} You were formerly a powerful insect controller, who fought and defeated vastly more powerful enemies with cunning, skill and tactical forethought. To reflect that, this skill grants you the ability of your former power set to control insects with a ten block radius of yourself with absolute precision. Additionally, any arthropod-type monsters (Arachne, Arachnos) will automatically be fearful and subservient to you and all arthropod monsters within your dungeon will be slightly empowered.**

Whew…those are some OP skills. I was glad about the last two essentially giving me back my old powers, with a boost. The thing about Arachne and Arachnos fearing me was weird though…do they even _have_ those on this world? I doubt they'd mention them if they didn't exist, so possibly?

 **Those are your skills, abilities that grant you power. It should be noted that for a human, level fifty is usually the highest that they can reach, with a few lucky members managing to reach level sixty. Members of other races, such as the Elves, Dwarves and Fae can and have reached the maximum level of one-hundred in skills. Skills can be learned by practicing motion or mental acrobatics, or by being taught by someone, or an alternate method that will be discussed elsewhere.**

 **Now, say 'Status – Dungeon' aloud to view the status of your dungeon.**

Doing so, I was treated to the view of both a picture of the dungeon, along with its stats. Aside from one largish square box which I presumed was the room I was in, the dungeon I lived in was simply a long thin corridor about a mile long. While that left plenty of scope for future growth, it did leave something to be desired in the utility department. I mean a straight line? Really?

Dismissing the simplistic design of my dungeon for the moment, I turned my attention to the stats that hovered next to it.

 **Dungeon Name: Dungeon of the Devouring Swarm (Temporary)**

 **Dungeon Level: 1**

 **Floors: 1**

 **Rooms: 1**

 **Room Limit: 1/8**

 **Corridors: 1**

 **Corridor Limit: 1/16**

 **Monsters: 0**

 **Bosses: 0**

 **Traps: 0**

 **Mana Available: 50/20**

 **Dungeon Mana Daily Intake: 5**

 **Dungeon Points (DP) Available: 300**

 **Daily DP Allowance: 10**

 **Mana to Create Next Floor: 100**

That…was not encouraging.

Taking a closer look at the last part, I was confused. How could I have fifty out of twenty Mana? That made absolutely no sense, both practically and mathematically.

 **This is a map of your dungeon. Simply as it may be, it is your home. We are going to start with the basics. Dungeons generate both life energy for the world at large and mana for you to work with in order to purchase monsters and expand the dungeon. All dungeons start with a limit of ten mana before they are even created (don't ask). Each room adds five mana to the total amount that you can store at any one time, as does each corridor, with each room/corridor also adding +1 to the Daily Mana Intake. Size and width of said rooms are irrelevant except in special cases. Special rooms can raise the Mana Limit, as well as the amount of mana you gather per day.**

 **Each floor of your dungeon has both a room limit and a corridor limit, as you have a limited ability to endure Mana with just one floor. If you somehow manage to get more Mana than you have the ability to store it, such as right now, it is generally advised that you spend it post haste, as prolonged overabundance of Mana can inflict you with Mana Poisoning. Too much of a good thing is bad for you.**

 **Once you have gathered enough Mana, you can create a new Floor, which raises the amount of Mana you can store by twenty and raises the natural Dungeon Mana Daily Intake by ten.**

 **Mana is generally spent on purchasing, resizing and filling rooms with monsters, traps, terrain and other things, while Dungeon Points, or DP as shorthand, is used to purchase unlocked monster upgrades, traps, special rooms and other miscellaneous items. You receive ten DP for every floor in your dungeon, plus ten DP for achievements, milestones and other non-lethal methods.**

 **The more lethal methods of gathering Mana and DP involve killing intruders. You receive Mana for absorbing the life energy of anyone who dies within your dungeon (Which has nothing to do with souls. Life energy is the living energy of the body, the soul is another thing entirely), and you also receive DP for absorbing the equipment from their bodies (Leave them their underwear at least, though.). Absorbing the equipment also unlocks upgrades and equipment for you to purchase with DP. Repeated absorption of the same items will yield a lower yield than something new.**

Huh…OK, that…kinda-sorta made sense? Not exactly happy about the fact this box thing seems to be poking me towards killing people. I still haven't gotten over the suspicion that someone was trying to screw me over again, so my paranoia was at MAX.

 **At the moment, this dungeon, while suitable for standing around in, is not suitable either for living in or for defending yourself. It is time to remedy this situation. Open the Room Purchase Screen by saying its name to continue.**

Doing so, I spotted three options; [Standard Template Rooms], [Freeform Build Room] and [Demon Lord's Chambers]. I pressed the last option.

 **[Demon Lord's Chambers]: A room that does not count towards your Maximum Floor Room Limit, but does increase your DMDI and your Stored Mana by the usual amounts. Comes equipped with a modest bed for those Demon Lords that like to sleep off of the cold, stone floors.**

Well, if I was going to have to stay here for a while, I may as well be comfy, right?

The room cost twenty Mana to build, which I paid. The map of the dungeon came to the forefront and I was asked to place the central point of the room on the map. I pressed my finger to a point behind the room I was currently in, which was marked on the map as 'Lair of the Demon Lord', which was a far to grandiose name for this bare stone room.

Almost at once, a loud rumbling could be heard from behind me. A moment of this and a cheery 'ding' sounded.

 **[Demon Lord's Chambers] has been built! Overall Mana reduced to 30/20, DMDI increased by 1, Upper Limit of Available Mana increased by 5!**

 **Do you wish to create a corridor between the [Demon Lord's Chambers] and the [Demon Lord's Lair] for free?**

 **Y|N**

Obviously.

After it was built, I got another notification.

 **Achievement Unlocked! [Hobo no More!] You Earn 10 DP!**

 **Corridor built! DMDI increased by 1, ULAM increased by 5!**

 **New Room Templates Unlocked! [Entrance Hall] can now be built!**

 **Traps have been unlocked! [Basic Pit Trap] has been unlocked! [Rockfall Trap] has been unlocked!**

 **Decorations have been unlocked Too many to conveniently list!**

My right eye twitched at the first part of the notification. Someone was having way too much fun with this. More fool them; I got DP out of it!

Moving away from my irritation with snarky message boxes, I eyed the other parts of the announcement. Increasing the amount of Mana I could store at once was a good thing. I now could safely store 30 Mana without suffering negative effects, plus my daily intake had risen from 5 to 7. It didn't sound like much, but baby steps, right?

 **Now that you have created a place to sleep, you must now create a room for monsters. To do so, select the [Standard Template Rooms] option and select whichever room you wish and set it in the indicated area of the map.**

I could see why they were called the 'Standard' templates; there were only about half-a-dozen choices: cube, rectangular, dome, triangular (odd one that), doughnut and small maze. Putting a small maze (which was basically just a bunch of dead-end corridors connected in the middle) at the start wasn't in the cards, so no. triangular room was out to, because I couldn't think what to do with it. Doughnut (why that name? Now I was hungry…) was also out. I shrugged and randomly chose one…rectangular. I put it on the point specified, making sure it overlapped with the already present corridor. Unlike before, I was also asked to choose its orientation, length and overall dimensions right now, as changing it later would cost more Mana.

I played about with it a bit, with the room ending up about the length of three or four American Highschool classrooms (or at least the ones at Winslow, the only ones I had seen in person…), the width of two and a half (maybe) and the height of one and a half. Once I finished that, my Mana went down by five more points.

 **Achievement Unlocked! [Cut Your Rooms to Suit Your Needs]! You earn 10 DP!**

 **New Room Built! DMDI increased by 1, ULAM increased by 5!**

 **Monsters have been Unlocked! See Monster Spawn Screen for details!**

 **New Traps Unlocked! [Slime Trap] Unlocked! [Basic Tripwire Trap] Unlocked! [Simple Wooden Arrow Trap] Unlocked!**

Again with the irritating comment via achievement…

The traps made me raise my eyebrows. They were all very basic; pits, falling rocks, tripwires, wooden arrows…just about the only unusual one was the one with slime. What was that all about?

 **[Slime Trap]: A basic magical-type trap involving a transparent slime. Hidden from sight, if stood upon, the slime is destroyed and reduces the friction of the area it once existed on to zero, causing whosoever stepped on it to slide forwards without any control. Best used in combination with other traps, as it is only mildly embarrassing for the victim rather than dangerous. 5 Mana to emplace, 2 Mana to reset. Can be improved upon.**

O….kaaaayyy…so what did a tripwire trap do?

 **[Basic Tripwire Trap]: A basic mundane-type trap involving a thin length of twine. This trap can be set up in one of two ways. First, it can be used as a wire to trip people up. They fall forwards, getting slightly hurt and very annoyed in the process. Secondly, it can be used to set off other traps once tripped. It should be noted that it is very easy to break this trap. 5 Mana to set, 1 to reset. Can be improved upon.**

Huh. Looks like even these basic traps have a lot of nuances to them that aren't obvious when you just look at them. A lesson for later, I think.

 **Now that you have created your first room, you must now select which monsters to stock this floor in. As you have the Title section unlocked and received the title [Demon Lord of the Swarm] from your achievements in your past life, your Primary Monster Race is automatically insects. You can purchase a Second Race once you purchase your Second Floor, a Third Race at your Fiftieth Floor, a Fourth at your Seventy-Fifth and a Fifth at your Hundredth Floor. After that, you can only purchase a new monster race every hundred floors.**

 **Please select what type of insects you wish to use on this floor.**

 **\- Millipedes**

 **\- Spiders**

 **\- Crickets**

 **Once your Monster Race has been chosen, please select the terrain for this floor.**

 **\- Cavern**

 **\- Brick House**

 **\- Abandoned Fortress**

Well that's interesting. It was trying to make me chose the bottom two, because buildings were familiar to me. Thing is, pitfalls, rockfalls and the like were more effective in the dim light inside a cave, especially if the ground was uneven. Plus, I knew exactly which species to select for it.

I chose 'Spiders' and 'Cavern' respectively. I was then directed to open the Monster Menu.

 **Available Monsters:**

 **\- Small Spinner Spider (5 Mana)**

 **\- Small Web Spider (5 Mana)**

 **\- Small Venomous Spider (6 Mana)**

Looking at them, I could see that they filled out the three vital positions of playing defence; the Venomous Spider was for close quarters, the Spinner was long distance and the Web Spider was the one that laid traps.

I could work with this.

Having to follow the instructions of creating one of each spider, I was told exactly what they could do. The Web Spider could spin webs all over the place for the other spiders and even cover the entries and exits of the room, but it had almost no ability to protect itself. The Venomous Spider was quick but its poison was fairly weak at the moment and was vulnerable while in the middle of biting. Finally, the spinner could lob strings of webbing at the enemy to tangle them up, but was slow and weak in close combat.

Just out of curiosity, I opened the upgrade window for the Spinner Spiders.

 **Spinner Spider Upgrades:**

 **\- Increase the stickiness of the webbing – 10 DP**

 **\- Increase the speed at which the Spinners can fire webbing – 10 DP**

 **\- Further upgrades locked.**

So…I could upgrade these guys twice at the moment and that was it? Well, any port in a storm.

I bought both of them before looking at the traps when the tutorial prompted me.

 **Traps:**

 **\- [Basic Pit Trap] – 5 Mana/5 DP – [Upgrades]**

 **\- [Rockfall Trap] – 10 Mana/10 DP – [Upgrades]**

 **\- [Slime Trap] – 15 Mana/10 DP – [Upgrades]**

 **\- [Basic Tripwire Trap] (standalone) – 5 Mana/5 DP – [Upgrades]**

 **\- [Basic Tripwire Trap] (Linked to second trap) – 10 Mana/10 DP – [Upgrades]**

 **\- [Simple Wooden Arrow Trap] – 10 Mana/10 DP – [Upgrades]**

So DP could be used to pay for traps in a pinch? Good to know. My Mana situation was abysmal and I wouldn't get anything done past a little bit every day. I wonder what the upgrades for the tripwire traps were…?

 **Basic Tripwire Trap Upgrades:**

 **\- Upgrade tripwires to be made of ordinary spider silk to increase its durability – 5 DP**

 **\- Upgrade tripwires to automatically reset once any invaders have left the dungeon – 15 DP**

 **\- Upgrade tripwires to set off any traps they are attached to if cut – 10 DP**

Those were some good upgrades.

Before I could do anything else, a loud thump sounded from right in front of me. I jerked my head up and saw…

 **OK, so I've been reading a lot of Dungeon-style fanfics and LitRPG's recently, and most of them had dungeon Cores. One though, had the Demon Lord hiding in it. So I thought to myself, 'Hell, why not?'**

 **So here we are. Taylor gets press-ganged into being a Demon Lord. Let me know what you think. And for those who guest review, please keep it to one review per chapter.**


	87. Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 2

**Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 86)**

…a chest?

I blinked, rubbed my eyes and then looked again. No, seriously, it was a chest. The wooden kind you would see in those old RPG's.

 **[Reward Chest]**

 **This is a reward chest. Every time you make a floor and populate it with at least three monsters, you receive a reward chest. They are filled with random items for you to absorb, granting you DP, unlocking monsters and traps and unlocking upgrade options and research.**

 **Open it to see what you have. One will be a rare item.**

Seriously? I got the crap scared out of me because I thought someone had snuck into my dungeon to kill me and it's a goddamned chest?! Urgh, a little _warning_ next time, maybe?

Cursing to myself slightly under my breath, I stood up and stepped forwards, only to stumble. My newly enhanced chest was throwing my centre of balance off a bit. Urgh, more complications!

Fortunately, I was good at adapting, so this shouldn't be a problem for longer than a week.

Stumbling over to the chest, I opened it…to see about ten things inside. A coil of ordinary rope, three coins made, from what I could see, of copper, silver and gold respectively, a short sword, a round shield, a chunk of…wood? Yup, it was wood. Ordinary, bog-standard wood. The other items were a mace, a lump of melted glass, a lump of…wet clay? Glass and clay? Why?!

The last item was a box with a glow around it. This, I supposed, would contain the 'rare item' that the screen had mentioned. Flicking it open with one finger, I saw that it was…a book. Written in characters I couldn't recognise as being any kind of alphabet from Earth. Unsurprising because this place was apparently not Earth Bet or any of its alternates, but irritating as well.

With a huff, I spilled the contents of the chest out on the floor and hit 'Y' when a pop-up appeared asking if I wanted to absorb the materials on the floor.

 **[New Materials Absorbed!]**

 **\- Rope has been absorbed! Rope-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Copper has been absorbed! Copper-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Silver has been absorbed! Silver-related research and items has been unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Gold has been absorbed! Gold-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Coinage has been absorbed! You can now create money in the appropriate type of metal!**

 **\- Steel has been absorbed! Steel-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Steel Short Sword has been absorbed! Item unlocked for purchase!**

 **\- Round Buckler has been absorbed! Item has been unlocked for purchase!**

 **\- Wood had been absorbed! Wood-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Steel Mace has been absorbed! Item unlocked for purchase!**

 **\- Glass has been absorbed! Glass-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Fresh Clay has been absorbed! Clay-related research and items unlocked where appropriate!**

 **\- Item [Book of Enchantment] has been absorbed! Dungeon Skill [Loot Enchantment] has been unlocked! Personal Skill [Item Enchantment] has been learned!**

 **\- You receive 200 DP from absorbing a powerful grimoire!**

 **\- You receive 50 DP for the absorption of the other items!**

My mind whirled at all of these things being unlocked at once. All of that from those things? Wow.

What really piqued my interest was the newly unlocked Item Enchantment skill. If it was anything like say, Dauntless' power, then I was so going to use and abuse it.

 **Unlocking materials does not just affect what monsters and traps you currently possess; they affect all other monsters, traps and items that you will receive in the future, granting them upgrade options if you possess the appropriate materials, making all future monsters and traps more and more deadly and powerful as you progress.**

 **This concludes the Dungeon/Demon Lord tutorial. You will be concealed from detection and discovery for one week before your location is able to be detected by outside forces, so get cracking! It is the system's hope that you work hard for the sake of the world of Pangea and, once you have completed said work, you will be rewarded by reincarnation on Pangea itself as any race you wish to be.**

 **Good Hunting!**

I stared at the screen for a moment before shaking my head, dismissing it, which made the chest vanish too. Huh. OK. So, I was having another life dangled in front of me as a reward for saving the planet. It was certainly a better deal than I had for the _last_ time I saved a planet, that was for sure!

Assuming this 'system' was on the up and up, I had one week, that is a mere seven days including today, to build up my dungeon before I was discovered. After that, who knew when a troop of the local heroes or adventurers or whatever the hell this world had as problem solvers came along to attack me.

And it wasn't just the dungeon that needed to be upgraded; I needed to get some upgrades myself. For all I knew, the first people in would be led by a Glorious Paladin with a Shining Sword of DOOM in one hand. Going head to head with _that_ while barehanded…yeah, no. I was good, but not that good. Not anywhere close.

The first thing to do was upgrade my basic monsters as much as possible. The one I was keenest on making good was the Small Web Spider. It was the trap master equivalent of my spider monsters and would be the one that would not be used in direct conflicts.

Returning to my throne, I opened the menu for the Web Spider to see what I could so with it.

 **Small Web Spider Upgrades:**

 **\- Increase the intelligence of the Web Spiders so they are more cunning in setting their traps – 10 DP**

 **\- Increase the tensile strength of the web spun by the Web Spiders so it is tougher to break – 10 DP**

 **\- Have the Web Spiders automatically set their traps without requiring your direction to do so – 5 DP**

 **\- Add a mild poison to the webs spun by the Web Spiders – 10 DP**

All of those were excellent upgrades. I bought them before cracking my knuckles and getting to work. This dungeon wouldn't build itself, after all.

 _Three Days Later_

 **Dungeon Name: Dungeon of the Devouring Swarm (Temporary)**

 **Dungeon Level: 1**

 **Floors: 1**

 **Rooms: 5**

 **Room Limit: 4/8**

 **Corridors: 2**

 **Corridor Limit: 2/16**

 **Monsters: 12**

 **Bosses: 0**

 **Traps: 12**

 **Mana Available: 13/45**

 **Dungeon Mana Daily Intake: 11**

 **Dungeon Points (DP) Available: 420**

 **Daily DP Allowance: 10**

 **Mana to Create Next Floor: 100**

Whew. Well, the last three days have been a lot of hard work. I had added two more rooms and was about to add a third. Fortunately, you could use DP to substitute for Mana when you were completely tapped out of the latter.

Each room so far had one of the types of spiders in them. The first had my Web Spiders, the second my Spinner Spiders, while the third had my Venomous Spiders in it. This fourth room (technically my sixth if you included my Lair) would include all three types of my spiders.

I had also set up some basic traps in the corridors between rooms; pits and tripwires, a handful of wooden arrow traps linked to tripwires…I really need to get an activation mechanism that wasn't a damn tripwire! Four of my traps were tripwires linked to other traps for crying out loud!

The pitfall traps weren't all basic ones; I had researched a couple of new ones, one of which that I had earned from emplacing my first Slime Trap.

 **Slime Pitfall: A pit that is filled with slime. Not only does it get you covered in slime, which is rather disgusting and tastes somewhat foul, it also inflicts damage on the equipment that the victim is wearing. Put bluntly, it eats clothes. Fabrics are the most vulnerable, followed by leathers. Metals are the least vulnerable, but they are held up by leather straps most of the time. If armour can't be worn, what use is it? 20 Mana/DP to emplace. Does not require resetting as the slime is immune to physical damage and auto-regenerates. Can be improved upon.**

The other one was even more disgusting, in my opinion. At least for someone who wasn't as accustomed as I was at having their body covered with insects.

 **Insect Pitfall: A pit that is full to the brim with a host of various insects, from centipedes to millipedes to spiders to cockroaches. Aside from the mental damage from falling into a pit full of bugs, the contents of the pit swarm the victim, biting and scratching at them. Anyone who goes through this trap and comes out without a fear of insects must have either a will of steel or have something wrong with their heads. 15 Mana/DP to emplace, 5 to reset.**

Yeah…that one is _nasty_. I put that one on the first step heading out of the third room. That exit has a bunch of thick webs over it and it just so happens that someone trying to cut them _has_ to stand just where the slime trap leading to the pit is laid in order to do so.

Hehehehe…

Ahem. Moving on.

The two rooms had been a dome and a cube respectively, so I decided to get more complex with this one, choosing a small maze room. I placed it down and at an angle so that it wasn't a straight shot to the other side, spending another ten DP to shift everything after the maze room to one side. The cave walls looked very eerie when I close my eyes and used the ability I called **[Dungeonsight]** to look inside the room. Mentally rubbing my hands, I could see just how good this place would be was a hunting ground for the spiders. A lot of webs on the walls and ceiling and it would be a home for them.

Shelling out enough DP for three of each type of spider, I watched in satisfaction as the Web and Spinner Spiders scattered and started covering the walls in web. The Venomous Spiders had very little web capability and, now that I thought about it, I hadn't looked into upgrading them yet. Let's see…

 **Small Venomous Spider Upgrades:**

 **\- Grant a small poison spitting attack – 10 DP**

 **\- Increase length and strength of legs for quicker movement – 10 DP**

 **\- Add paralytic component to poison – 10 DP**

 **\- Increase poison virulence slightly – 10 DP**

 **\- Add additional chitin armour for better CQC survivability – 15 DP**

 **\- Add sharp spikes to chitin armour to additional CQC options – 10 DP**

All of that was very good. Rather than remain as a solely close-quarters monster, this would let my Venomous Spiders be a bit more flexible. Stand on the ceiling, drop a glob of poison down on the intruders, and paralyse them, drop down and _bang_. Of course, there was no guarantee that it would work. Only time would see.

I bought all of the upgrades for the spider and was satisfied when the three Venomous Spiders' legs thickened and lengthened slightly, with extra chitin growing over the abdomen and bodies of my minions. The extra spikes growing in on top of the abdomen and on the legs was also satisfying.

 **[You have created a sufficient number of monsters!]**

 **A Boss Room can now be built!**

 **The Boss is the final obstacle on a floor to prevent intruders from progressing further into the dungeon. As you only have the one floor at the moment, it means that this boss is** _ **also**_ **the final obstacle between invaders and you as well, so you had better make a good one!**

 **There is not a specific boss room that can be created from the menu. You create a room from the menu as normal and then summon a single monster in it, before choosing to upgrade it into a Boss for 30 Mana or DP. The boss created will be a very much enhanced version of the source monster, so choose carefully.**

So even without the tutorial, I'm getting information on things? Useful.

I decided to make the Boss Room a triangle, although 'pyramid' would have been a better descriptor for it. It was indeed triangular in that the base had three sides to it, with one point being taken up by the door.

Then I had to choose which of my spiders to make a boss. This left me undecided for quite a while. I decided to investigate the spiders in the maze room and see if they could be upgraded any further. Turns out, yes, they could. A small arrow appeared at the right-hand corner of the screen when I was looking at the Small Venomous Spider. Pressing it switched the screen to a new one.

 **Small Venomous Spider #5:**

 **\- Evolve into Poison Fang Spider – 10 DP**

 **\- Evolve into Chitin Blade Spider – 10 DP**

 **\- No Unique Evolutions Available**

This...was interesting. I decided to look at the options for the other spiders. All of the Venomous Spiders were the same, so I started with the Spinner Spiders next.

 **Small Spinner Spider #5:**

 **\- Evolve into Threadmaster Spider – 10 DP**

 **\- Evolve into Thread Gun Spider – 10 DP**

 **\- No Unique Evolutions Available**

Again, interesting. Now for the Web Spiders…

 **Small Web Spider #5:**

 **\- Evolve into Trapmaster Spider – 15 DP**

 **\- Evolve into Whorl Constructor Spider – 10 DP**

 **\- No Unique Evolutions Available**

Once I had the list of evolutions in front of me, I started to investigate what they were and what they did. All of the evolutions were about twice the size of the current roster of spiders that I had available, with better defences. Then there were the specific evolution quirks.

Poison Fang Spiders, as the name suggested, were again close combat oriented, with their poison being three times as powerful as even their upgraded pre-evolutionary form was right now. On the other side of the coin, Chitin Blade Spiders were defence-oriented that were almost spider-type hedgehogs that lashed out with the blades that covered their legs and abdomen.

Threadmaster Spiders didn't have a large abdomen…rather their main body was a bit larger instead, with spinnerets being at the tips of their eight legs, letting them fight at all ranges with the thread they spun from them. Thread Gun Spiders had a longer abdomen than average, one that could be aimed like some kind of turret. It could rapid-fire thread at twice the speed of the Spinner Spiders.

Trapmaster Spiders were the very epitome of ambush killers. They were highly intelligent, in a limited how-to-use-webs way, and frequently used all available terrain features as fodder for cunning and deadly traps. Whorl Constructor Spiders went the other way entirely, basically being dumb as hell minions with one purpose: cover the place in webs. Left unhindered, they would turn a room into one big mass of webs. Not just on the walls, but strewn on the floor, hanging in streams from the ceiling and in big webs filling the whole space of the room.

I didn't get that last one. _Why_ would you want that? What _possible_ advantage could that give me? If I saw a room like that, I'd hit it with fire until all of the webs were gone.

To experiment, I chose one spider in each room to evolve. In the first room, which had the Web Spiders, I chose to evolve one into a Trapmaster Spider. It was a rather…gross process to watch as the chitin shell cracked and expanded. Legs lengthened, fangs shrunk and hairs grew all over it. What remained was what looked like a Trapdoor Tarantula. It immediately started scurrying around to investigate its area.

Moving into the room next-door, I chose to make one Spinner into a Thread Gun Spider. Again, the evolution process was gross, and the abdomen of the new evolution ended up looking just like an ovipositor. I commanded it to fire as rapidly as it could at the wall in front of it, and wow. Rather than a stream of threads, the Thread Gun Spider fired a ball of liquid thread that expanded out into an entangling mess of threads that would almost certainly trap anyone it hit. And it could fire _three_ of them in the space of twenty to thirty seconds.

The evolution for the Venomous Spider was something I hemmed and hawed about, eventually choosing to have one evolve into a Chitin Blade Spider. Even although the Venomous Spiders had been gifted with extra chitin armour plating and spikes already, seeing one literally bulk up and have said spikes multiply and turn into sharp blades was still something of a surprise for me. I confirmed that this guy still had his poison spitting ability before I moved on to the maze room.

In this room, I again evolved a Venomous Spider into a Chitin Blade Spider, with it being joined by another Trapmaster Spider and a Threadmaster Spider. That last one has an interesting evolution, as the legs looked about twice as thick as normal, while the abdomen was smaller than average.

Returning to the empty room, I summoned a Venomous Spider and evolved it into a Poison Fang Spider immediately. Watching it evolve was interesting, as the only major changes were that it doubled in size, changed colour to brown and the two chelicerae that contained the venom injectors swelled to be larger and more powerful. Wouldn't wanna be bitten by that guy, that's for sure.

Two seconds after the evolution finished, a pop-up appeared in front of me.

 **Do you wish to turn Poison Fang Spider #1 into the First Floor Boss for 30 DP?**

 **Y|N**

Hitting 'Y' and watching intently, I raised an eyebrow when at first, nothing happened. Then, a pillar of magic struck the spider and it grew like a weed. Its chitin changed colour to black, with a red death's head covering the back of the abdomen. The chelicerae shrank, but they also started to drip a purple poison that sizzled as it hit the ground. Holy hell, was its venom _corrosive_ now?

As the monster finished growing, I was struck by its size. A Venomous Spider was small, about the size of a Jack Russel, while a Poison Fang Spider was about the size of a Saint Bernard. This… _thing_ …was the size of a rhinoceros on steroids, maybe even a small elephant!

 **[Boss Created]**

 **Your Poison Fang Spider has been upgraded to the Boss of the First Floor!**

 **Its name is [Black Widow: The Spider of Death]!**

 **Generating Boss Room Transformation…**

The room that the Black Widow was in, previously a large pyramid of stone, changed. Soon, the walls were covered in web-like carvings, with a stylised spider crest spaced intermittently around the room. The space of the room also grew whilst somehow not being any bigger on the outside of the room. Weird, but Vista could do something like that too, so it didn't surprise me as much as it probably should have.

Panning up, I notices a ledge jutting out of the wall near the inside tip of the pyramid and recognised that it was designed to be used as a base for the Black Widow to build a nest.

 **[Basic Boss Room Completed]**

 **Add upgrades?**

 **Y|N**

I was leery of this, but decided to see what options I currently had.

 **Room of the Black Widow Upgrades:**

 **\- Add doors to the entrances to prevent someone simply running through – 10 DP**

 **\- Add gargoyle decorations to the walls that also give Black Widow a foothold for added manoeuvrability – 20 DP**

Both of those were actually pretty reasonable, so I bought them. The doors were…made of thin stone that looked as if a solid punch by a kid could break them. The gargoyles were much better, resembling sneering spiders jutting out of the walls starting a bit above average head height. I returned to the screen to see three new options appear.

 **\- Improve doors to be thick and resilient – 20 DP**

 **\- Decorate doors with black widow motif – 2 DP**

 **\- Add condition for opening entry door – 20 DP**

 **\- Add condition for opening exit door – 20 DP**

I bought all of them once again. Seeing the doors actually look intimidating with the black widow emblem on them was satisfying, as was having them actually sturdy enough to resist a kick or two. I was going to have to start being more sparing with my DP though, as I had less than a hundred left.

For the condition of being let into the Black Widow Room, I set it so that any invading party would have to defeat all of the other monsters on the floor before being allowed to. For the door that let them out of the Boss Room, I simply set it so that the boss had to be defeated before they could continue.

 **Achievement gained! [Like a Boss]! You gain 10 DP!**

 **Achievement gained! [Be a Boss with Style]! You earn 10 DP!**

 **[Conditions Cleared!]**

 **1) You have at least five Spider-type monsters on your Floor.**

 **2) You have evolved at least three into three different monsters.**

 **3) You have a spider for a Boss.**

 **4) You have at least 1 Spider decoration in your dungeon.**

 **You may now designate this floor the [Spider Floor] for free!**

 **If you choose to do so, you will receive a discount of 3 Mana/DP on further spider-type monsters purchased, as well as free respawns for all spider-type monsters. Additionally, you unlock some spider-specific decorations, a free pair of statues of your boss for your Lair and a Special Room.**

 **Do you wish to designate your First Floor the [Spider Floor]?**

 **Y|N**

I could see no downside here. Hitting the 'Y' key, I could feel the dungeon shifting to meet the new paradigm being imposed on it. Webs covered the walls, spiders being produced and scuttling all over the place until the place looked creepy as hell. On the plus side, all the damp that was on the walls dried up almost instantly as well.

 **Effects of Spider Floor:**

 **1) Spider-type monsters cost 3 Mana/DP less to create; respawning spider-type monsters on this floor is free of charge.**

 **2) Numerous spider 'critters' are created by the dungeon automatically. They cannot be commanded by the power of the Demon Lord, but their senses can be used. Mostly decorative, but occasionally useful when they drop down invaders' armour and bite their unmentionables.**

 **3) The First Floor is decorated in spider web for free.**

 **4) Special Room [Spider Puzzle Room] unlocked! Free to purchase and place, AND adds to the DMDI and ULAM.**

The second one earned a bemused look from me. I didn't need to know that my spiders went for the crotch, thank you very much.

On the other hand, the Special Room that was unlocked was very interesting to me. A puzzle room? Hmm…let's have a look at the description for it.

 **Spider Puzzle Room: A room that requires someone to solve eight spider-based puzzles in order to proceed further. If they succeed, the room generates a spider-themed reward before allowing them through. Should they fail, they are attacked by four randomly generated spider-type monsters. Games include Spider Rubik's Cube, spider checkers, Spider Mix'n'Match and a variety of others from this world.**

Those were some odd choices for games, but hey, who was I to judge? If they couldn't figure out what to do with a Rubik's Cube, I was golden.

I wanted to put that as a further stumbling block after the Boss' room, but sadly it seemed that the Boss' Room HAD to be the last room on the Floor…or at least, the last one between the invaders and me. So, I spent another 10 DP shifting the Boss' room further towards my Lair and stuck the Spider Puzzle Room in between it and the maze room.

Basic setup of the dungeon completed, I couldn't justify spending more of my much reduced DP and almost-non-existent Mana on anything else, so I turned to try and design my Demon Lord Form. Unfortunately, I discovered that I could only make it once and I was limited in the design by what insect-type monsters I could summon. As I only had spiders, I was limited to them.

Attempting to get around this by commanding some insects on the surface to march over and enter my dungeon earned me a warning that I would be discovered prematurely if I carried out my plan.

So, I gave that up as a bad idea. I'd do it when the shielding from 'the system' went down.

That brought me to a new worry. That worry being, who was the system and were they playing straight with me? I wasn't sure. Thus far, they seemed to be OK, but this was only three days in. In my last life (if this wasn't a dream brought on by my powers driving me insane) I had been justifiably paranoid, as almost everyone was against me. That had evidently carried over to right now, as I was suspicious about this entire situation.

Namely, why me? Yeah, I'd killed Zion, but I'd done it by hijacking the entire population of Earth Bet's Capes. I'd done that because the idiots had been too busy arguing about useless things while the worlds burned. I had cut through that and, despite rapidly falling into insanity; I had killed the oversized space whale that had masqueraded as Scion, the world's first and strongest Cape.

Aside from that…OK, yeah, I had held my own against Lung, Mannequin and even killed the supposedly unkillable Alexandria. But why not Hero? The world's most famous Tinker? Or Alexandria herself (despite the fact the bitch had been a member of Cauldron), the exemplar of the flying Brute? I could think of dozens of Heroes, Villains and Independents that would fit this role thrust upon me far better than I could.

Sighing, I returned my mind to the interface before me. I had to figure out how to get my hands on some weapons…oh? A shop?

I scanned down it and grimaced at the poor selection, which was basically everything that I had absorbed from the Reward Box, with a couple of differences. The lump of wood had become a plank, the lump of glass had become a sheet and the fresh clay had become a pot of fresh clay.

Shrugging, I bought a short sword and round buckler. They appeared in mid-air in front of me, hovering there until I grabbed them. The sword was a bit light, but it felt easy in my hand. The shield was a bit small, but I'd make do.

A flash of inspiration flashed through my mind as I remembered the [Item Enchantment] ability I had received. I hurriedly opened the appropriate screen.

 **[Item Enchantment]**

 **Available Enchantments:**

 **LV1 – [Rustproofing Enchantment] – 0/100 Successes**

 **LV1 – [Rot Prevention Enchantment] – 0/100 Successes**

 **LV1 – [Anti-Warping Enchantment] – 0/100 Successes**

 **LV1 – [Force Enhancement Enchantment] – 0/100 Successes**

 **Further Enchantments Locked until unlock conditions met.**

My eye twitched at the lacklustre offerings that my enchantment system had for me. _Rustproofing_? _Anti-Warping_? What the _hell_?! The only combat enhancement was something that sounded like it made the weapon hit harder.

Huffing again, I decided that if nothing else, this would be something to pass the time and maybe earn me some personal EXP. Yes, everything I had done so far in my dungeon had not earned me so much as a single point of EXP, so I still needed fifty to achieve level 2.

As it turned out, I had to play a 'follow the light path' mini-game of sorts in order to 'draw a mystic rune' and then guide it into the target. Even if I failed though, it only cost me something like five Mana at a time and I gained five EXP for my attempt. Embarrassingly, it took me five times to successfully enchant my short sword with the **[Rustproofing Enchantment]** , which earned me twenty EXP.

Just enough to level up.

 **You have accumulated enough EXP! You have levelled up! LV1-LV2!**

 **All attributes increased. Attribute link to HP/MP activated.**

 **You have three Skill Points to spend.**

Skill Points? What the…?

 **[Skill Points and their Uses]**

 **Skills can be earned in one of three ways in this world.**

 **First, they can be taught by teachers and instructors, which is the way most go about it.**

 **Second, a person can learn a skill after fulfilling certain criteria. As an example, swinging a sword a hundred times outside of combat or fifty times in combat would get you the [Sword Mastery] skill.**

 **Third, they can be bought from the Skill Shop. This is an option normally only available to the chosen of the gods or demons. As the chosen of the Planet Itself, naturally you can make use of this option as well.**

It then went on to explain how buying Skills worked. I had to buy the skills and then unlock them. The more common the skills, the lower the purchase cost. For example, **[Sword Mastery]** , the Skill that it talked about earlier, would cost two Skill Points to buy and add it to my Skill List. I would then have to unlock it using my last Skill Point. As it basically told me how to unlock it without spending my SP, I instead chose to purchase and unlock **[Shield Mastery]**. Then I started swinging my sword until I learned **[Sword Mastery]**.

Oddly enough using both a sword and a shield together took some getting used to and eventually earned me the **[Shield Stance]** and **[Shield Fighter]** Skills. Once I learned both of those skill, fighting with both sword and shield in hand felt completely natural.

Why wasn't that a part of **[Shield Mastery]**?! Urgh, sometimes this whole system thing makes no sense!

I spent the next four days practicing my fighting style, as well as continuing to practice my enchantment skills. **[Force Enhancement Enchantment]** was a tricky one to activate and it had a shorter time limit to complete it than the other three.

It was on the eighth day of my new life on this world, a mere one day after the protection of the system ended, that the first adventurers invaded my dungeon.

 **A belated Easter present for you all. Now, back to my scheduled writing…**


	88. Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 3

**Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 86)**

When the eighth day came, I woke up at the crack of dawn. I have no idea why, but I only seemed to require about four hours of sleep, six if I was feeling lazy, in this new body of mine. I wonder if it has anything to do with my new 'race' as an Archdemon?

The bed I slept on really was modest, in both appearance and function. It was wooden framed, with a creaky mattress and a thin duvet. My bed back on Earth Bet, at Dad's house, was comfier. Heck, the little pull-out cot at any PRT or Wards base was comfier than this thing.

' _Note to self: find a way to upgrade my bed._ ' I thought absently as I got dressed.

Exiting my room, I also made a note to figure out how to make wooden doors so I could close my living quarters off from my throne room.

 **Item Added to Store: Crude Wooden Door!**

I froze at that. Say what?! I could just think it and the thing would be added to my Store?!

Cursing myself for not think of this earlier, I made my way to my throne and plopped myself down onto it before checking my Mana and DP.

 **Mana Available: 17**

 **Dungeon Points (DP) Available: 105**

Not a tremendous amount by the standards of what my DP had once been at, but that couldn't be helped. DP and Mana was there to be spent, after all. I pulled up the description of the door that I had just mentally conjured up.

 **Crude Wooden Door: A door barely worthy of the name, it is badly made and creaks if the wind blows near it. Down in a dungeon, you don't have to worry about that, but this is only good to mark the boundary of the room's exit/entrance rather than a serious attempt at barring entry/exit. Can be improved. 3 DP to Purchase.**

I had a large stone door that opened whenever someone walked near it. I knew this because I had gone out yesterday and inspected the rest of the dungeon in person rather than via **[Dungeonsight]**. Maybe it was just me it automatically opened for? I had no clue. Anyway, I had a door for people entering my room, but I didn't have one for preventing people running into my Chambers. I didn't exactly have any underwear for people to gawp at, aside from the bra and panties that I was wearing right now. Something else to add later.

 **Item Added to Store: Spider Silk Bra!**

 **Item Added to Store: Spider Silk Panties!**

…

I guess that makes sense, given that spider silk is the only material I have at hand at the moment that can be used to make clothes, but sheesh.

Moving on, I bought a door and placed it in front of the entrance to my Chambers. Interesting fact: it grew and stretched to fit. I then opened its upgrade menu.

 **Crude Wooden Door:**

 **\- Increase Door craftsmanship – 5 DP**

 **\- Increase Door durability – 5 DP**

 **\- Special: Camouflage door to prevent entry point to [Demon Lord's Chambers] from being seen – Free**

I bought all of them in order. The door, which had previously resembled a ramshackle collection of planks crudely held together with wooden nails, flowed into what looked more like a proper door, albeit a thin one. Then it thickened until it was the thickness of a Fire Door back home. The last change was the coating of stone that covered it until it looked indistinguishable from the surrounding wall. No gaps whatsoever.

Walking towards it, the door swung back at my approach and returned to its normal place at my retreat. Cool.

One thing that I had been neglecting was my magic. I had two different types of magic; **[Dungeon Magic]** and **[Insect Magic]** , and it would be a weakness to not know what I had and how to use them. Let's have a look at them, shall I?

 **Dungeon Magic:**

 **Magic used by the Demon Lord of a Dungeon. This set of spells allows the Demon Lord to cast spells within the dungeon, even while it is being invaded, making it a vital tool for any Demon Lord.**

 **You currently have not generated your spells.**

 **Pay 5 Mana to do so?**

 **Y|N**

That…was troubling. I quickly did some research and discovered that I couldn't use the system to add monsters, traps and rooms if the floor in question had invaders in it.

I decided that getting the spells up and running just in case invaders came was a good idea, so I paid the five Mana.

 **Generating…done!**

 **You have gained the spell [Dungeon Teleport]!**

 **You have gained the spell [Dungeon Illusion]!**

 **You have gained the spell [Dungeon Fear Aura]!**

 **Each spell is limited to being cast once per invasion, so choose your spell and timing carefully! Dungeon Magic gains spells as the Level of the Dungeon goes up, so work hard!**

Examining the spells, I could see that they'd be useful. **[Dungeon Teleport]** was a random teleportation spell. It let me send one randomly chosen invader to a random point in the dungeon, aside from the [Demon Lord's Chambers], the [Demon Lord's Lair] and the Floor Boss' Room. If I had multiple floors, then it would be restricted to a point on the floor that the invader was on.

 **[Dungeon Illusion]** basically crafted an illusion to deceive the invading party. I could use it to create a large pitfall where there was none, or lengthen the apparent distance between a person and a monster or even craft an illusion of a monster down to the smallest detail. It could be seen through by a spellcaster of a sufficiently high level though

 **[Dungeon Fear Aura]** was another useful little spell that could drive away people from places I did not want them to go. The place, item or monster that I cast this little beauty on struck fear into the hearts of those who approached it. Those who were not resolved enough were driven into flight. Those who were fearless were immune to this spell though.

 **[Insect Magic]** was the same deal, except I gained more spells with it depending on how many types of insects I had, as well as the number of them I had in total. The spells I got after paying the five Mana cost were **[Breath of Imhotep]** , **[Insect Wings]** and **[Antlion Maw]**. Each was pretty self-explanatory; the first let me vomit up a swarm of random insects like in the film _The Mummy_ , the second gave me human-sized insect wings that let me fly and the last summoned the mouth of an insect monster called an Antlion to attack my enemies from beneath.

All three were useful for personal combat and thanks to my previous life as Skitter/Weaver, I didn't have to do any strange chants or gestures with my hands in order to use them. I didn't even have to say their names aloud; simply think them while flaring my MP.

' _Breath of Imhotep!_ ' I thought as I flared my MP and opened my mouth. A literal swarm of locusts emerged in seconds and slammed into the wall before vanishing. That was the pain about first level spells, at least according to the pop up; they were weak and needed repeated use in order to level up. Once they did though, they would get stronger. The insects spawned by **[Breath of Imhotep]** would stay around longer and longer after being created for each increased level it had until they would be permanently conjured, just as an example.

I stiffened as an odd feeling reached me. Something was here…in my dungeon…that I had not created.

Hurrying back to my throne, I closed my eyes and swept through the dungeon until the hole that was the entrance was visible to me. Standing there on the threshold was a tall man wearing steel plate armour, no helmet and wielding an enormous double-handed greatsword in a single large fist. He had close-cropped brown hair and brown eyes.

Behind him, three other people were standing awaiting something, an order probably. Two were women and one was male. The other man was short and thin, wearing a dull-black hooded cloak and dull grey and black clothes. In both hands was a pair of razor-sharp daggers.

The women were studies in contrast. One had an aristocratically beautiful face with yellow eyes, long red hair and wore equally red curve-hugging robes with a citrine sunburst pendant at her throat. A long staff surmounted by a red crystal was clasped in one hand. The other was demure, with a kindly pleasant face, blue eyes, blond hair and white robes that concealed her body well. A short mace was in one hand, while a thick book was in her other.

Huh…so we had a fairly balance party here, with one Tank/DPS, one Rogue, one Spellcaster and one Cleric. Damn shame that the spellcaster seemed to be a fire mage, as spiders were weak against fire.

"Are you sure this is the entrance to the Demon Lord's Dungeon, Cynthia?" the man in armour was asking the Cleric.

"Yes. The Lady Lumina is certain of it." The woman -Cynthia- answered serenely.

"Doesn't look like much." the redhead snorted. She had a brash, confident voice.

"How better to conceal it?" the rogue asked rhetorically. "Most would see this as a mere cave in the hillside and think nothing of it. Only a party with a priest or priestess, or a suitable powerful Mage, would be able to tell differently."

"'Rhet, that better not be a jab at my skill." The fire mage growled, her eyes flashing red for a moment.

"I'm certain that Garret didn't imply anything of the sort, Valerie." The priestess soothed. "Truth be told, I was sceptical myself until I laid eyes on it; the flow of magic is very weak. It must only be a few days old, a week at absolute most."

"What should we do, Damian?" Garret asked. "Report it to the guild?"

"Nah. If this Demon Lord _is_ only a week old, then the Dungeon should only have one, maybe two rooms tops." Damian snorted as he hefted his sword onto his shoulder with a casualness that spoke of great familiarity with his weapon. "If that's the case, we can get in and kill 'em without much hassle. That'll earn us enough to advance to Two Star Gold-Rank Adventurers!"

"Supposing we _survive_." Garret said dubiously. "Even _if_ the damn Dungeon is small and weak, the Demon Lord will _not_ be a push over. The last Dungeon was destroyed over ten years ago and the Demon Lord who ruled it killed three-quarters of the fifty man party that invaded the Dungeon by himself before being struck down himself. Damian, this may be ever so _slightly_ over our heads."

"Bah. Don't be such a freakin' worrywart." Damian scoffed. Was he a knight or a fighter, I wonder? "We can _do_ this! A couple of rooms, a panicking Demon Lord and **boom** , instant success. We've been hanging around the Three Star Silver-Rank for over a year now! Any longer and we'll be stuck in a rut!"

"He has a point, 'Rhett." Valerie the Mage sighed. Evidently she didn't get on with Damian the Knight as she seemed REALLY reluctant to agree with him.

"OK, but I want you three to know that it's all Damian's fault if we get killed." Garret groaned in surrender.

"We've still got this quest to hand in, so let's do that, get all our weapons and armour repaired and then come back and do this thing!" Damian expounded with a smirk.

"If this gets me killed Damian, I am going to come back and haunt your ass." Valerie said flatly as she turned and walked away from my dungeon's entrance, swiftly followed by her party members.

Crap. A pretty solid party already? Dammit, why did this always happen?!

I noticed something on the system menu that brought me up short.

 **Available Mana: 12**

Eh? Seriously? I got _five Mana_ just from that Damian guy standing partly in my dungeon? OK, this is pretty cool.

The main question was, what could I do here? I needed information on the lands my Dungeon was on, as well as the structure of the society that lived there. Those guys mentioned star ranks in their party, hadn't they? I'd guess that silver would be a pretty high rank, with three-star being the peak of the rank to boot. Hoo boy.

Let's see…what could I do in this short timeframe to increase the difficulty of my floor…?

Well, I hadn't checked the Black Widow to see if she could be upgraded, so I could always start there.

 **Floor Boss – Black Widow Upgrades:**

 **\- Have three Poison Fang Spiders spawned at the start of the fight – 10 DP**

 **\- Have the Boss use the gargoyles as footholds for acrobatic and long-range attacks – 10 DP**

 **\- Increase the intelligence of the boss equal to the number of enemies it faces; anything higher than six makes the intelligence of the Boss start to rise – 10 DP**

Well, I won't have to worry about the last one for the moment because I _know_ that the party about to attack me is only four strong. I could leave that to one side for the moment. I bought the other two upgrades and checked on the Spider Puzzle Room.

 **Spider Puzzle Room Upgrades:**

 **\- Randomise the puzzles available every day – 5 DP**

 **\- Set time limits for each puzzle to be solved - 5 DP**

Both of those were fairly simple upgrades and so I bought them.

There I bought doors for the rest of my dungeon's rooms as well. Lucky break; if you buy doors for one entry/exit point, you buy them for both. Plus they were all now [Sturdy Wooden Doors] rather than crude ones. The monsters in the room had to be killed before the doors would open once the invaders entered the room, although I didn't think that the doors would stand up to the greatsword that the main tank of that party had as his weapon. From what I could recall, he didn't seem to have a backup weapon either, so if that sword was somehow destroyed or damaged beyond repair, he would be useless as anything but a meatshield.

Mages were a tough one. The closest analogue that I had to them were Shakers and Blasters and there was no telling what this Valerie woman could do compared to them. The likelihood that she had a set limit to how many spells she could cast was rather high. I had no clue what those limits were, but bearing in mind that I was against the unknown, I would assume she was on the same level as Lady Photon in terms of offence.

The priestess was a bit of a concern. Clerics could heal and remove debuffs, if my limited gaming experience was anything to go by, with the truly higher-levelled ones being able to send out Shaker-like blasts of holy energy. I had no idea if a Cleric of 'Lady Lumina' could do that, but I was going to assume the worst.

As for the rogue…well, a bit of searching told me that concealment skills didn't exactly matter for me; in my Dungeon, I knew all. Only _extremely_ high-level concealment magic or _top-tier_ rogue skills could hide people from me, and I don't think this Garret guy was on that level. Still, he would be an irritant if I let him backstab my monsters, so I'd make sure to take care of him quickly.

What I was planning on doing was capturing at least one of them and picking their brains for information about the world. The mage, Valerie, was the best choice as one thing that the limited information the system had given me about spellcasters on this planet was that all low-to-mid-tier spellcasters required a wand, staff or cane in order to cast any spells. Plus, she likely had no physical combat skills that could harm me, so she was the better choice. All of the other three had weapons skills and could possibly fight barehanded if pushed to it.

Plan set, I picked up my sword and shield from where they sat next to the throne. I had discovered that for steel weapons, three enchantments was the absolute limit for what I could place on them. I had enchanted it with **[Rustproofing]** and a **[Force Enchantment]** , while the buckler had all three lesser enchantments on it, just in case.

There was nothing to do now, except wait.

Soon enough, the party of four returned. I think it was about two or three hours from when they left. The armour on Damien was shining as if it had been freshly polished, ditto for his sword. All of the others simply looked refreshed.

"So we're really going through with this?" Valerie asked with trepidation.

"Yes, we are." Damien answered firmly. "We have a solid team here. I'm a Knight, you're a Flame Magus, Cynthia's a Senior Priestess and Garret's an Adept Rogue. We're in the top ten parties of the Stevensport Guild and I think we could get to number one if we take this place down. Now let's go and kill us a Demon Lord!"

This guy…oh, he was just _asking_ to be made a pancake.

Treat _me_ like a stepping stone will you? That did it. I was going to go easy on you lot, but guess who just stepped up to first place on my shit list?

The four entered my dungeon's tunnel and marched in. The Knight-Who-Shall-Be-Punished was first, with the others clumped behind him. Obviously, none of these guys have ever delved a dungeon before.

I smirked as the Knight blithely stepped onto the first Slime Trap and was sent careening forwards like an out of control Ironmongery advertisement, straight down a pit after tumbling down it ass over teakettle.

"Waaaaggghhh!" Clank-crash!

"Damien?!"

"Holy shit!"

"Language!"

The other three peered over the rim of the pit to see their friend splayed out on the ground, stunned, but alive.

 **Achievement unlocked: Watch Your Step! You receive 10 DP!**

 **Achievement unlocked: This is the Pits! You receive 10 DP!**

Hehehehehe…

"Damien, are you alright?!" Cynthia called out worriedly.

"Urghhhh…yeah…I feel like I just got hit in the back by an ogre on its way home drunk though…" Damien groaned.

"You mean like that time last week?" Valerie jeered.

"That was a _half_ -ogre, Val." The Knight retorted as he staggered to his feet. "Now are you going to keep bitching at me, or are you going to help me out?"

"Don't tempt me." Valerie sniped.

It took a good five minutes to get Damien out of my first pit trap. During which time of course I was laughing my ass off. To see a big knight take a tumble like that and look so ridiculous while doing it would've been worthy of _Candid Camera_ back home.

On the more serious side, he should have taken quite some damage from a fall like that in full armour like that. A broken bone at least. Yet here he was jumping around like nothing's wrong. Obviously a skill of some sort, or perhaps a quality of his armour.

"What the heck _was_ that thing I stepped on, Val?" the Knight asked once he was hauled out of the pit.

A few muttered words in a language I didn't recognise later and Valerie scowled. "A lesser slime. A _very_ low-end magical creation that naturally occurs in places of high magical density. Usually they're the first thing a Wizard or a Mage has to learn to get rid of because they're so prone to evolving into a proper slime at irritatingly awkward moments. This one was a Lesser Invisibility Slime, completely undetectable to sight and scent. And with the amount of magic in this damn place, magical detection is…improbable, to say the least."

"Lovely." Garret deadpanned.

The four of them set off again, _still_ in the same formation. Jeez, these people will not learn!

I had set up two combo-traps in that corridor leading up to the first room. The first had been the Slime-Pitfall Trap. Now they were approaching the second, which was…

*PING*

*SPLAT!*

"WHOA! GLUB!" Damien yelped. Yup. The idiot had fallen for my tripwire and had fallen down into my Slime Pitfall. Enjoy the slimy swim, metal head.

 **Achievement unlocked: Enjoy Your Trip! You gain 10 DP!**

 **Achievement unlocked: Into the Drink! You gain 10 DP!**

Jeez, these guys were earning their keep in the DP department! What about Mana?

 **Available Mana: 25**

Nice.

While I had been checking things on my screens, the Knight had managed to surface from the pool of slime and yell for help. The look of absolute disgust on his face made me cackle. Looks like the slime really _did_ taste foul.

"Gaah! _Blech!_ Get me out of this foul stuff!" he bellowed.

"That's a group of Lesser Pit Slimes!" Valerie said with a shiver. "Only about fifty slimes have a taste that's bad and _those_ buggers are in the top ten foulest! Sucks to be you!"

"I don't wanna get that gunk all over my rope!" Garret whined.

"Get me out of here or I _swear_ I'll bisect you!"

I was enjoying myself here! They hadn't even reached the first room and I'd earned over ten Mana and forty DP from them, plus I was getting free entertainment.

…wow, was I getting a bit sadistic or what?

After dragging the Knight out of my little pit of slimy doom, he knelt on the ground and retched a couple of times before regaining control of himself.

"That was the most _disgusting_ experience of my entire life!" he swore.

"I can't believe you fell for a basic tripwire trap, Damien." Garret chuckled. "Sure, you're no rogue, but you've been around the block a couple of times. Surely you should have spotted it?"

"Not so. Behold." Cynthia pointed at the remains of the snapped tripwire, which was quite hard to spot. "The cord used is made of some manner of transparent thread. If you didn't know that it was there, I doubt even a low-tier rogue would be able to find it."

"True enough." Garret admitted. He examined the thread for a moment before nodding. "Right. This stuff won't deceive me again. I'll go first now, Damien."

"Go ahead...urgh, I want to throw up…I think I _swallowed_ some of that stuff…!" the Knight groaned.

" _ **Be blessed by Lady Lumina, Goddess of Light. Impurities, begone!**_ " the priestess chanted, her book open in front of her. Interesting…

A glow started to form around Damien, but it flickered and faded almost at once.

"Uhhh…Cyn?" Damien asked cautiously.

"It appears that the rumours of Dungeons interfering with the connection the clergy have with their patron deity are true after all." Cynthia said with a small frown. "I can purify you of the slime, but it will cost me more holy power than I would ordinarily have to expend."

She chanted again and this time, the glow sustained itself before sinking into Damien's skin. He immediately spat up a glob of black stuff onto my floor. Gross! Don't spit on my floors, dammit!

"Urgh, that sucks." The Knight shuddered. "Val, can you burn that stuff up?"

"If you want the tunnel to be filled by _noxious fumes_ , then yes." The Mage shot back dryly. "Burning Pit Slimes of any description is A Bad Idea, Damien. Seriously, I know you never paid much attention to magic things outside of possibly enchanted sword, but even a Copper One-Star knows this stuff."

"..shut up." Damien muttered.

After a few more quips, the four got moving again, a lot more cautiously now. I estimated that the likelihood of them falling for any more of my tripwire traps was less than nil from here on out. Not unless they were distracted by the melee of combat, anyway.

As they approached the door to the first room, I smirked. The Web Spiders and the Trapmaster Spider lay beyond it and I was looking forward to taking control of my monsters to see exactly how well these four fought against me.

"Is that a wooden door?" Damien asked in disbelief upon seeing it.

"Yep." Garret said easily. "Why so surprised? The Dungeon a decade ago had these too."

"Yeah, but that one had been growing for over a year before it was discovered." The Knight pointed out. "This one's a baby, practically."

"The capability of a Dungeon depends upon the skill, drive and intelligence of the Demon Lord which created it." Cynthia pointed out sensibly. "For it to have spawned those two traps earlier, so soon after being born, I would guess that this Demon Lord is highly intelligent if nothing else. Wooden doors aren't high-end either, so any modestly intelligent Demon Lord's dungeon has them."

"Great. A _smart_ killing machine." Valerie drawled sarcastically.

Deciding not to give myself any more of an advantage, I changed my view to the inside of the next room. A long, plain and unadorned rectangle until I upgraded to the Spider Floor. Now there were stalagmite and stalactites scattered haphazardly over the floor and ceiling, with various rock outcroppings here and there.

The reason I hadn't added, removed or otherwise changed anything here, or anywhere in my dungeon, before now was that without invaders to properly test the place, I couldn't judge difficulty. Yes, this room was hard to move around in when I walked through it earlier on in the week, but that _might_ have been because I'm _still_ not used to my increased bust size.

I gently asserted control over my spiders and they froze for a moment before moving under my command. The Web Spiders busied themselves by tightening small imperfections in the webs that they had set up that I could see thanks to my panoramic view of the room, while the Trapmaster stealthily made its way around some traps it had made, even more difficult to detect than the rest. Plus, thanks to the webs all over the place, trying to find trapped webbing in amongst the rest of the webs would be worse than finding a needle in a haystack.

The door creaked open and no-one appeared. What, were they expecting me to have an eraser fall on their heads or something? Or a bucket of whitewash, perhaps?

..actually, those sound funny. I may do them once I have all the materials for them.

"All clear so far." The rogue, Garret, whispered. It may as well have been a shout in the quiet of the dungeon though.

"Let's go." Damien said roughly. I could tell that he was spoiling for a fight, probably to work out some frustration from the pitfalls he'd fallen into earlier. He stomped on in…and triggered a tripwire that fired an arrow at him a split second later, which smacked straight into his abdominal armour, staggering him.

"Gods all above!" he wheezed as he staggered back.

"Shit! An _arrow_ trap?!" Garret cursed. "It's this _damn_ webbing! Of all the damn monsters this floor had to be infested with, it just _had_ to be sodding spiders! I can't find my ass with both hands in this muck, never mind tripwires!"

"Any damage, Damien?" Cynthia asked in concern as she entered cautiously, Valerie following her.

"N-No…my armour took the brunt of the hit." The Knight replied as he kicked the innocuous wooden stick with a crushed head that had attacked him earlier. "I think it made a dent though."

Indeed it did. Once my First Floor became a Spider Floor, I could update most wire, twine and bowstring in my traps to be made of spider silk at no extra cost. This upped the striking power of the ordinary arrow trap to a level that most would think came from a crossbow.

"Val, can you burn this stuff?" Garret asked.

"I can, but putting it out again would be a nightmare." The Mage sounded gloomy. "Not to mention it would piss off the Demon Lord. I remember reading that if too much damage is purposefully inflicted on a room, the Demon Lord can intervene more directly from their lair."

…Can I? Seriously?

My question was fortuitously echoed somewhat dubiously by Damien.

"If the book I read was _accurate_ , yes." Valerie answered tersely. "Damien, you have to be more careful. With Garret and I all but useless at detecting the triggers for these traps, you are going to have to pick up the slack."

" _Lovely_." He deadpanned.

Hefting his greatsword, Damien advanced into the room, which, when I looked at it anew, did seem somewhat dark and dim. Should I have put in some luminous moss or something?

" _ **Lady of Light, grant your priestess a beacon to dispel the darkness. Piercing Light!**_ " Cynthia chanted, and the business-end of her mace started to shine with a silvery light. I was lucky that I wasn't looking at it with my real eyes; otherwise I'd have lost my sight for the few moments it took them to adjust.

"A bit of _warning_ next time, Cyn?" Garret blinked furiously under his hood.

"My apologies."

It was at this point that I had my Trapmaster drop down on Garret, sinking its teeth into his shoulder before leaping off and away. The man's pained shriek made me wince.

"Garret!" Cynthia almost teleported over to him and started chanting a spell or prayer that seemed to ease the pain. "What was that?!"

"L-Looked like an Over Trap Spider." The rogue ground out through the pain. "A Tier Two monster!"

"Where'd the little bastard go?!" Damien shouted angrily, swiping at some nearby webbing with his blade. It cut through a dozen webs before stopping on one web that wrapped around it as soon as the edge of the blade touched it. "Shit!"

It took a lot of force and swearing for the Knight to get the blade out of the web trap, during which time I took the opportunity to attack with my Web Spiders. Sadly, Valerie was on guard and took care of two of them with a single spell.

" _ **Spirit of Flames, grant me thine blessing. Pierce and scorch, Flame Needles!**_ "

What was released by her spell was a pair of six-inch long needles that appeared above her hand and flew towards my poor monsters with a gesture, slamming into their heads almost simultaneously and, from what I could tell before I lost my connection with them, burning them from the inside out.

Damn. I could count the number of Blasters on Earth Bet that could launch attacks that precise on one hand.

Much to my surprise, once the flames extinguished themselves, the bodies of my monsters dissolved into motes of light and left behind…

…a spool of thread and several copper coins.

What.

"Loot!" Garret grinned. Cynthia had finished healing him by this point.

"It's only a few coppers and some thread." Damien said dismissively.

"Those were Weaver Spiders, First Tier Monsters." Valerie retorted. "If they gave us something really good on the kick off, I'd be deeply suspicious."

"OK, fine. Let's find the exit before we get more spiders attacking us." The Knight said with a frown.

"We won't be able to get through while there are monsters still alive in this room." Cynthia informed him.

"Urgh…right, I forgot about that." Damien winced.

Interesting…so there were some common traits that all dungeons shared. And knowledge of at least some of them was known by appropriately powerful parties, if these four were any indication.

The four tracked down and killed the last Web Spider pretty easily. This time it was Garret who killed it with a lazily thrown knife to the head. That was odd…ah, it was also heavily poisoned. One hit and any low-ranked monster would collapse.

Left with just my Trapmaster Spider, I manoeuvred it around to the far side of the room, keeping to cover as much as possible. Valerie spotted it and launched another Fire needle at it, but it missed and set fire to some web. Panicking a little bit, I tried to absorb it.

 **Magical Fire was absorbed! Error, item level too high to unlock any item. Perquisite items required.**

 **Covert to 50 DP?**

 **Y|N**

Hitting the 'Y' key, I was relieved. I did _not_ want to have to waste my Mana and DP on repairing my Dungeon's appearance.

"…Val. Did the Dungeon just _eat_ your fire?"

"Yes…yes it did."

"Oh good." Garret said with a faux-calm manner. "I was wondering if I was just seeing things."

Despite a valiant effort, my Trapmaster was also slain by these four; this time by being cleaved in two by Damien's greatsword after Garret severed the web it stood on with what looked like a throwing star. The item it left behind was a Spider Silk pair of trousers.

"Why _trousers_?" Damien asked bemusedly as he held them up in one hand.

"Maybe because the Demon Lord thinks you'll need to change trousers after being subjected to the Dungeon?" Val joked.

"Aha. Aha. It is to laugh." Damien grumbled as he stowed the trousers in his pack. "Now let's get out of this room and move onwards!"

This actually surprised me. I thought he would have advocated leaving, especially considering his little dip in the slime pit. Was he really that reckless? Oddly enough, the rest went along with it. I guess that despite their knowledge of Dungeons, they never figured out that slow and steady was the way to go with most of them.

Against me though, this was the right tactic. I could alter things and improve things once they were gone, but I was completely cut off from the system while they were in the Dungeon. Oh, I could still buy things at the store, but other than that, I was on my own.

The fact that it was likely being used against me because of ignorance and pride rather than knowledge was something of an irritation.

The two traps that I had in the corridor between the first two rooms were both tripwire traps. One was a simple tripwire-into-a-pit trap that Garret steered them around, while the other was a tripwire-arrow trap. This time, Garret decided to cut it, just in case. This backfired on him thanks to the upgrade I had bought that made the trap the tripwire was linked to go off as soon as the wire was cut. It almost killed him, as it was fired from above, but he had excellent reflexes and all the arrow did was rip a hole in his hood as he jerked his head back.

"Holy Shadows!" he swore. "Tripwires that activate their traps if triggered _or_ neutralised? That's not bad. Wasn't expecting that!"

"This is becoming more and more curious. Just what sort of Demon Lord are we dealing with here?" Valerie asked in worry.

"A dead one once we get to the lair." Damien growled.

I moved into the second room, which held my Spinner Spiders and the Thread Gun Spider. Let's see how well they dealt with being attacked from range themselves…

 **So, this is an interesting fic. One more chapter, then I'll move on to something else. All reviews appreciated. ^_^**


	89. Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 4

**Demon Lord of the Swarm Chapter 4 (original chapter Chapter 86)**

Taking control of the Spinners and Thread Gun Spider, I bared my teeth. The fact that my Web Spiders had been all but useless wasn't much of a revelation. They were trap builders, nothing more. It still stung though.

My Trapmaster had done better, but it was hard for it to fight out in the open. Ideally, it would have a network of tunnels to work out of, with flaps on the floor to dart out of and drag enemies down into the tunnel with it. I made a note to add some.

Now I was dealing with ranged fighters. If I was using the PRT Threat Assessment Ratings to assign numbers to my spiders, the Web Spiders would be Blaster/Shaker 2, Mover 3 and Brute 1 at best. The Trapmaster was slightly higher in the Blaster/Shaker department by a point or so, but it was still nothing to write home about by itself.

The Spinners were solid Blasters though, Blaster 2, maybe 3 at a push, while the Thread Gun Spider was Blaster 4, no questions. These 'adventurers' had had an easy time of it…aside from Damien the Knight falling into a couple of pits.

Pfft! I still laugh at the memory.

Garret pushed the door open and waited. Did all places he broke into have a trap on the door or something? Sheesh.

"All clear." He said. "Now _please_ don't go running in, Damien. Remember what happened _last_ time."

"Oh get over it." Damien snorted. "You got a little bite on your shoulder that Cyn healed for you. Boo-fuckin'-hoo."

"A _poisoned_ bite, thank you very much." the rogue muttered as he carefully entered the second room of my dungeon. "Goddamn spiders. I _hate_ spiders."

Sucks to be him then.

"Grow a pair, willya?" Damien rolled his eyes as he followed his party member.

"Like _you're_ any better with worms." Garret accused him over the shoulder.

"We do _not_ talk about those… _things_." The Knight shuddered.

"Grow a pair." Valerie mocked as she and Cynthia came in after him.

Just as he turned his head to glare at the Fire Mage, a coughing sound was heard and a mess of thread slammed into Damien's head and proceeded to stick to and entrap his limbs.

"GAAAH!" Damien shouted. "What the hell?!"

"Projectile Spider!" Valerie shouted, pointing at my Thread Gun Spider.

As Damien writhed on the ground, Garret knelt next to him to try and cut him loose, but he dodged back the next moment to dodge the long strand of thread that would have grabbed his head.

"Shadows take you!" he cursed. "A Projectile Spider _and_ Spinneret Spiders?! What the hell?!"

"Less talk, more killing." Valerie barked. " _ **Spirit of fire, gift me with thine blessing! Scorch and burn, Fireball!**_ "

A grapefruit-sized ball of orange flames appeared in her hand and she lobbed it at my Thread Gun Spider, which I had fire back immediately with a three round rapid-fire burst of thread, even as it leapt away.

Naturally, the thread did bugger all to the fire except burn away to ashes, but by the time the fireball extinguished itself against a rare blank spot on the wall, my spiders were all in constant motion, firing their webbing wildly and with abandon.

"Sod this!" Garret muttered. His hands vanished into his cloak for a moment before emerging, clutching several daggers. He threw a handful each at two of my Spinner Spiders, which I dutifully made dodge.

Then the daggers automatically corrected their flight path and buried themselves into the bodies and abdomen of my spiders! What the hell?!

"Ah, the **Trick Shot** always gets 'em." The rogue chuckled.

My remaining Spinner managed to tangle up Cynthia before a **Flame Needle** from Valerie ended it, which was rather good. On the bad side of things, Damien managed to rip his way out of the thread prison…just to be hit by my Thread Gun Spider again.

"Gaack! Not again!"

"Damn, I think this Demon Lord hates you, Damien."

"Stop observing calmly and get me out of this, Val!"

The antics of my spiders were finally ended by the attacks of Garret and Valerie. Despite the squabbling that the two did every now and then, they were a solid team, I had to give them credit for that. Damien, on the other hand was getting more and more angry and frustrated with every trap and non-lethal attack I sent his way.

 **Mana Limit reached!**

That was quick. I hurriedly purchased another sword and shield set from the store to reduce the amount of mana I had in my Dungeon.

While I did that, Garret had cut Damien out of his little cocoon of threads and the large man started cursing under his breath.

"Calmly does it, Damien." Cynthia advised him firmly as Garret started cutting her loose too. "We need our wits about us if we are to make it through this maze of traps and monsters in one piece. Giving in to anger will only doom us."

"I _know_ that." the Knight growled. He took a few moments to calm himself down before continuing. "Spinneret Spiders are borderline Tier 2 monsters, with the Thread Projectile Spider a mid-Tier 2 monster. I think that for some reason the difficulty is going up as we go further in."

"That's not an uncommon thing, Damien." Valerie informed him. "If anything, the first couple of floors are more a test for the invaders than anything else. After that, the Demon Lord tends to get serious."

"What I _mean_ is that the next room is gonna be even tougher." Damien rolled his eyes. "From this point on, bring out your best efforts. No more pissing about."

" _We_ have been serious the entire time." Garret deadpanned at the Knight. "The only one who's seemed to be playing about has been _you_ , Sir Pitfall."

This earned Garret a glare.

As it turned out, all they got from the spiders in this room was a pile of copper coins. Where, exactly, was this money coming from? I wasn't making it, nor was my DP or Mana being consumed to create them. Was the system generating them all by itself?

With a bare minimum of chatting, the invaders headed out the exit and towards the next room, dodging the traps as they went. I made a note to up the amount of webs in the corridors to prevent rogues from being assholes like this.

In the third room, I had my close combat spiders, the deadly Small Poisonous Spider and the Chitin Blade Spider, waiting. Unlike in the previous two rooms, I'd give no handicaps. As soon as they were all in the room and the doors shut, I'd mob them with my spiders from above.

Spider paratroopers…now _there_ was an idea. Hmmm…

Once Garret went through his usual push-the-door-open-to-avoid-traps routine, the foursome crept in, weapons ready. Damien was the most physical threat out of them all, so I would hold him off with the Chitin Blade Spider while the poisonous Spiders dealt with his party members.

3…2…1…now!

At my mental command, the spiders dropped from their perches on the ceiling where I had arrayed them for battle. Their fall was almost completely silent, but the whistling of their passage somehow alerted Garret that something was amiss and he looked up.

"Dodge, NOW!" he shouted and hurled himself to one side, the other following his order with only a second of hesitation which meant that rather than landing on their heads, my spiders landed on their legs or missed them completely.

"Holy shit!" Damien shouted as he reflexively swung his blade at the Chitin Blade Spider. "A Black Blade Spider!"

"Black Fang Spiders too!" Garret shouted as he threw a brace of knives at the spider stalking towards him.

"They appear to have mutated somewhat." Cynthia noted as she swung her mace and sent the spider attacking her staggering back. "Normal Black Fang Spiders do not have so much chitin or any spikes whatsoever."

"Who cares, just kill them!" Valerie shouted before blocking the advance of the spider attacking her with the staff she carried. " _ **Spirit of Flames, grant me thine blessing. Encapsulated fire, and forge it to my will, Flame Sword!**_ "

In her free hand, a one-handed sword, not unlike my short swords, appeared, which she then used to stab her opponent to death. It also caused some burns to its innards, much to my lack of surprise.

Garret, being a rogue, was not the best in direct confrontations, especially when the enemy was heavily armoured like my close combat spiders were. What he was good at though was dodging and biding his time to inflict critical damage with his knives, slicing the joints of the foremost pair of legs until they flopped down, useless.

"Whoa!" he dodged to the side as the spider that faced him, controlled by me who was tired of him having it easy; spat a globule of poison at him. "Hey! These aren't Black Fang Spiders! They're _Spray_ Fang Spiders!"

"Great." Cynthia deadpanned before crushing her enemy with a well-placed strike of her mace. I thought the healing classes were supposed to be weak in close combat?!

"And that's _quite_ enough from you!" Garret mock-scolded his enemy as he slid a dagger neatly into the thin gap between its head and body.

While all this was going on, Damien the Knight was having a hard time with the Chitin Blade Spider. Despite its larger size and thus greater weight compared to the other spiders, thanks to my control, it was running rings around him.

Damien's once pristine armour had already been through the wringer up until this point anyway; slammed in a pit, dumped into slime, wrapped up by thread, hit with a wooden arrow…yeah, it had been through a lot. Now it was covered in dents and scratches, with parts of it discoloured by the slime. Just to top it all off, I was carving lines into it with the numerous chitin blades the spider had, whilst dodging the very-easy-to-read-and-predict strikes of the Knight's greatsword. Especially with the expanded vision granted by the eight eyes of a spider added into my **[Dungeonsight]**.

" _ **Fireball!**_ " Valerie launched her spell at my spider, to which I responded by launching the spider into the air and firing a large glob of poison at Damien, who slashed it away with his sword. Unfortunately for him, that left him open to my true attack.

The Blade Chitin Spider rolled itself into a ball and descended upon the Knight like a spiky orb of spidery doom, slamming into his chestplate with a crunching sound.

"Damien!" The other three shouted.

"I'm fine!" he shouted. The Knight then grabbed a spike and hauled the oversized spider off of him and stabbed it before twisting his blade and dragging it out of the Chitin Blade Spider with an almost effortless slash.

As best as I could tell, none of these guys had any sort of magical weapon, aside from that cool fire blade that Valerie had conjured, or any other kind of magical equipment, aside from Valerie's staff. How the hell were these people going through my monsters like this?!

"Gods. Damned. _Spiders_." Garret muttered. "Spray Fang Spiders, a mutation of Black Fang Spiders. A Tier 2 monster. Not to mention a sodding _Black Blade Spider_ , a low _Tier 3_ Monster! This is getting ridiculous! What kind of newborn Dungeon has Tier 3 monsters on the first bloody floor?!"

Valerie burst out laughing as she pointed at Damien's armour. More specifically at the abdominal section. Nonplussed, everyone else looked. Carved into it was a word in capital letters.

'IDIOT'

"Ahahahahahahahahaha!" the mage slapped her thigh. "Oh, that Demon Lord doesn't like you _at all_ , Damien!"

Going red in the face with fury, Damien clenched the hilt of his sword tightly and muttered curses under his breath.

Throwing a disapproving look at Valerie, who was still all but crippled with laughter, Cynthia moved over to her Knight friend. "Are you injured?"

"I…don't think so." Damien answered with a grunt. "Could you give me a once over, just to be certain?"

"No problem." The priestess nodded and started to mutter something under her breath.

While that was going on, I pondered. While tweaking the nose of that Knight was fun and all, it was also an experiment for me. Obviously this was a different world right now, so I doubted that anyone spoke English of any flavour. So then, how was it that I could understand what these people were saying and even hearing it as English, hmm? I suppose I could simply chalk it up to some freaky translation magic, but this made me pause. Plainly, that was English carved into the steel plate armour. I had used the eyes of the Blade Chitin Spider to make sure of that. So then, how was it that Valerie, and I assume the others, could read it?

More and more questions were being racked up by this invasion. I resolved to get some of them answered at some point today.

When the four checked the corpses for loot, they found ten copper, two silvers and a handful of black throwing darts made of chitin. The rogue appropriated the darts, as none of the others had learned how to use throwing weapons.

The loot thing was also a worry.

"Now, I'll still go first, because a copper gets you a silver that the Dungeon Lord isn't going to back off after all of this." Garret said as he opened the door and was confronted by the thick webs on the other side blocking the way out.

"So we can see." Valerie drawled.

Grumbling about smart-ass Demon Lord and Mages, Garret stepped forward with one dagger out and ready to cut a thread when he stood on the Slime Trap that I had laid for just this moment. Being a rogue, he could have normally leapt away, but with no traction to do so, he was helpless as he careened forwards and fell into my Insect Pitfall.

"Aaaaaaarrrrgghggggghhhh!" Garret screamed as he was swallowed by the pit of bugs.

"Lady of Light!" Cynthia blanched as she hurried over to peer into the pit. "Garret?!"

"Ten Lords of War, what _foul_ mind concocted this kind of pitfall!?" Damien swore. "Garret, get your ass out of there!"

"Damn, I can't use any fire magic in there!" Valerie cursed as her grip on her staff tightened perceivably.

"GAAAAAHHHH!" Garret burst out of the mess of bugs and stabbed his daggers into the sides of the pit, using them as climbing pitons. Clever man.

 **Achievement unlocked: Caught a Slippery One! You Earn 10 DP!**

 **Achievement unlocked: Bugsbugsbugsbugsbugsbugsbugs! You Earn 10 DP!**

 **Achievement unlocked: Diet of Bugs! You Earn 10 DP!**

I facepalmed at the second one. I'll admit that being covered in bugs was a bit disturbing the first time, but I got used to it after a short while, to the point that I have to think for a moment before remembering that people freak out at the thought normally. Amazing what you can get used to, eh?

Seeing that Garret was hurriedly stripping off his clothes to remove all of the bugs from them, I hurriedly moved to the maze room and assumed control over the Spiders there basically setting the intruders against every single spider monster they'd faced up until this point, plus the Threadmaster Spider, was a big step up in lethality, if you asked me, but hey, I didn't want to die again, thank you very much.

Given how cautious they were, I doubted that they would fail to keep an eye on the ceiling from here on out, so I reluctantly scrapped the idea of repeating the ceiling ambush as soon as they entered the maze. Instead, I'd use one of my Dungeon Magic spells at this point.

With an act of will, a focus on the spell and a dip into my MP, a webbed wall appeared where the tunnel to the exit was located. Unless one of them walked through it, the spell was very hard to detect, let alone break.

Now, I could go through all of the death-defying antics that the four adventurers went through in the maze room, but that would take too long. Suffice to say, that they were very angry and tired by the end of it. Valerie had a close encounter with the Chitin Blade Spider and ended up with most of her dress' skirt slashed to ribbons, revealing some very nice legs.

Garret had lost his hood by this point, revealing that he had a very ordinary face with messy brown hair and very bushy eyebrows. His ash-grey eyes were darting all over the place rapidly like a demented game of ping pong.

Cynthia was really impressing me here. The only visible sign of agitation was the narrowing of her eyes. Other than the mussing of her robes and hair, she was utterly unaffected by the Dungeon thus far, which was really irritating. Was she being protected by her Goddess or something?

…that isn't something I _ever_ thought that I would _ever_ say.

Damien the Knight…looked like crap. He had been forced to abandon his right arm's gauntlet after my Threadmaster had tried to hold him in place against my Chitin Blade Spider's Hedgehog Manoeuvre. The rest of his armour was just as battered and beaten as before, with even more holes in it. The greatsword he held was also notched and pitted along its length.

"A sodding Grand Weaver Spider!" Garret was saying somewhat hysterically as he picked up the coil of spider silk rope that the Threadmaster spider had dropped. "Low Tier 3 _again_! What next?!"

"You left out the _other_ eleven spiders that we had to fight." Valerie pointed out. "I think we should give this up as a bad idea, Damien. Your armour's been ripped to pieces, my robes are in the same state and we're all exhausted. We should leave and come back later with at least two more members, including a Shield Knight to tank the hits better."

"I am _not_ retreating from this bedamned dungeon!" Damien growled.

"Damien, we are coming up against stronger enemies than we anticipated." Cynthia said persuasively. "The Demon Lord of this Dungeon must be exceptionally powerful. There is no dishonour in retreating at this point. We have reliable information on the first four rooms and _that_ will almost certainly get us to Gold One-Star Rank."

"Besides, we have no idea where the next sodding door is." Garret added.

With a roar of anger, Damien threw his greatsword at the wall…which just so happened to be the illusionary wall I had conjured. Well hell.

"AH-HA!" the Knight bellowed triumphantly. "Val, can you sense any magic there?"

"The _entire_ _Dungeon_ is full of magic." The mage growled in frustration. "It's hard to detect a fireball in front of my face, let alone an illusion as powerful as this one seems to be."

To demonstrate, she ran her hand along the 'wall' of the illusion. "It has actual texture. It feels like the rest of the walls. A bit of effort and…voila."

She shoved her hand through, swiftly followed by the rest of herself. "Come on through! I have your big knife, Damien!"

"It's a sword, not a knife." The Knight grumbled as he stomped through the illusion.

Sighing, I moved my sight to the puzzle room and started the randomisation, setting the first puzzle to be selected once the door behind the invaders slammed shut. The beauty of this little room was that if they failed even one puzzle, or even failed to solve one inside of the _time limit_ imposed, they would be attacked by four random monsters, as well as having the number of puzzles they needed to solve reset back to eight, regardless of how many you had solved beforehand.

It was a bit petty and evil of me to put this room in, but hey, anything to survive invaders, right?

The room, once the invaders entered it, was circular. It had a large circular stone, with the numbers 0 to 8 marked on it and an arrow pointing at the eight, hanging on the wall and a bright spotlight on the centre of the room. When the door slammed shut, ghostly green letters appeared in mid-air in front of the stunned adventurers.

 **[Welcome to the Spider Puzzle Room]**

 **To advance, you need to solve eight consecutive puzzles. Instructions on what to do for each puzzle or challenge will be made visible until a member of your party touches the puzzle or speaks aloud.**

 **Fail even once and the counter will be reset and you shall be attacked.**

 **There is a time limit for each puzzle to be solved within or you will automatically fail. The timer of the puzzle will not start until you come within one step of it or thirty seconds pass, whichever comes first.**

 **Should you wish to decline to advance, the entire party need only state such aloud and you will be warped back to outside the first room. To confirm you will take part in the Spider Puzzle Room, simply do not decline to advance during the thirty seconds after this message vanishes.**

 **Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind. The choice, brave adventurers, is entirely yours.**

"O…Kaaaayyy…." Garret said slowly. "Cyn, Val, are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"That this is by no means as easy as it appears?" Val snorted.

"That the level of this Dungeon is far higher than it should be?" the priestess correctly deduced.

"Yep for both." Garret nodded. "No way anyone less skilled than Iron Two-Star Rank Adventurers, and a full part of six at that, would get past the second room. _We_ are at the pinnacle of the Silver Rank and we barely made it past the _fourth_ room alive and intact. I'd rate this whole Dungeon as Gold Two-Star so far."

"A Platinum or Diamond Class Adventurer of any rank could go through this place easily though." Damien mentioned with a grunt, as if unwilling to admit how good my dungeon was.

"That's because those are two of the _top three_ classes." Val said dryly. "A Titanium Class Adventurer, as the third highest class, could also beat this Dungeon, albeit not with the ease that the other two could manage."

Holy…so Gold _isn't_ the top class then?! Crap, I needed to step up my game here…everything they were saying insinuates that a single one of these top Adventurer classes could curb-stomp me, which wasn't good. I would just have to hope that this Stevensport place that they seemed to come from didn't have any on their payrolls.

Watching the four stumble their way through the puzzles was rather amusing. The first was a Rubik's Cube, which was amusing. It took Cynthia three tries (and eight dead spiders) to get right within the time limit. Next was a jumbled picture puzzle that Garret solved easily. Swiftly on its heels was a water diversion puzzle, where you had to build pipes to siphon water from one source across to a hole whilst dealing with obstacles and the water slowly flowed through the pipe after a while.

Next there was the classic sphinx riddle and you had to choose one picture out of four as the answer. Then there was a 'spot-the-difference' challenge between two pictures. The sixth was a 'guess the next in the sequence' puzzle. That was hard and Valerie only barely managed to solve it in time.

The final two challenges were tricky ones. The seventh was a cool one, actually. Cynthia had to get a hollow sphere of glass out of a deep tank without entering the tank or touching the glass sphere with her bare hands or by using magic. She had a choice of two tools to use; the ones she chose were a neverending flow of water and a net, which solved the problem easily.

The last problem for the adventurers required two of them to participate. One was blindfolded and had to walk forwards, while the other one, using one-word instructions like 'forwards' 'left' 'right' and 'stop' had to guide the blindfolded one across an obstacle course that did all it could to trip up and topple them. If the blindfolded one fell at any point, or even placed their hands on the ground, they failed.

Frustratingly, they managed to get through it. Dammit, I was _so_ going to up the difficulty of those puzzles!

As the doors slammed open, a ragged cheer made itself known from the adventurers' throats. It had evidently been extremely mentally taxing on them.

"What the bloody hell was _with_ some of those puzzles?" Damien demanded helplessly. He was the only one who hadn't done any of them.

"They were testing our logic and problem solving skills for the most part." Cynthia mused. "The last one _definitely_ tested Garret's ability to trust Valerie."

"I know some adventurers, Platinum Rank included, who would have been _totally_ stumped by those puzzles." Valerie shook her head. "This place doesn't just require you to have the right level of strength and equipment; you also have to have at least some intelligence and deduction skills to boot. Your average party in Stevensport has neither, as they're usually Knight-heavy."

"For good reason." Damien pointed out as they made their way out of the room. "The Dire Wolves from the Flegrand Woods nearby have a pretty decent resistance to magic and have pretty wicked claws and fangs to boot. Going in heavily armoured is the best way to deal with them, and they breed like rabbits too, so we'll never run out of wolves to cut up."

" _Claire_ isn't heavily armoured." Cynthia pointed out.

"She's _also_ a Gold Three-Star, almost at _Titanium One-Star_." Garret replied dryly. "She is also known as Clair 'The Step of the Wind' for a reason. Her mastery of the **[Windstep]** skill is legendary. _No one_ can touch her unless she _wants_ to be touched. Plus she has that enchanted mithril chestplate. I've never seen her wounded since she came back from the Wood Elven Capital, Woodhaven, with it."

Crap. So the local equivalent of an A-Rank Parahuman is a speed expert, eh? I can think of a few counters to a Mover.

I grinned as they walked along the corridor to the Boss' Room. This was going to be epic. Given the state of their weapons, armour and fatigue, I had a pretty good idea that they wouldn't last long against my Black Widow. Fingers crossed.

"That," Garret said a few minutes later, "is a big door."

They were standing gawping up at the door to my boss…which had somehow morphed from ones the size of double doors to ones the size of a castle gate. How? _Why_? I give up about this dungeon stuff sometimes, I really do.

"Boss room, do you reckon?" Damien asked.

"Indubitably." Cynthia nodded sagely.

"Can you speak plainly instead of the fancy-dancy language that the priests use?" the Knight huffed.

"She said yes." Valerie rolled her eyes before becoming serious. "How many trump cards do we all have?"

"I've got two." Damien said with a shrug.

"One." Garret said next.

"Two." Cynthia added.

"And I have two as well." The Fire Mage nodded. "'Rhett, don't use yours until the Demon Lord. The rest of us should just use one against this boss only if absolutely necessary."

That got a round of nods. Trump cards? What, like powerful skills or spells? Great, more things to worry about.

As soon as they were ready, Damien pressed one hand to the doors and they swung open with a groan and the shriek of a rusty hinge, revealing a large triangular room seemingly bare of anything.

As the adventurers entered, Garret recoiled when he saw the spider gargoyles that decorated the walls. "Sodding spiders. Why _spiders_ of all things? Why not wolves? Or ants? Or bears? Hell, even _earthworms_ would be better!"

"No they wouldn't now shut _up_ about them!" Damien snapped with a controlled shudder. Ah right, he had a thing against worms. Wonder if that extended to snakes too?

As soon as Cynthia, the last of the adventurers, entered, the doors slammed shut behind her with a bang. The four looked aro8und nervously, searching for the floor boss.

"Where the bloody hell is it?!" Damien hissed.

A drop fell in front of his eyes and landed on the ground, hissing as it ate away at the stone floor. Looking up, the Knight's eyes widened and he shouted in surprise. Following his gaze, the others saw the enormous form of the Boss positioned above them, eight legs spread out to stand on the gargoyles as it gazed down hungrily at the intruders.

"Oh…Lord of Shadows…!" Garret whimpered. This was his worst nightmare made manifest.

"A Death Incarnate Spider Mother…!" Valerie was bone white as she muttered numbly.

"It's coming!" Cynthia shouted, raising her mace. The shout shook the others from their stupor just as the Black Widow leapt from the wall and somersaulted over them to land between them and the exit leading in my direction. It hissed menacingly and three magic circles appeared before it, disgorging the three Poison Fang Spider minions I had purchased for it.

"Three Death Fang Spiders. Great, what next?!" Damien muttered somewhat hysterically. "I'll take care of holding off the boss with my trump card. You three deal with the smaller ones first."

"On it." Valerie raised her staff.

"Let's go, monster!" Damien shouted. "[ **Perfect Warrior]!** "

A golden glow surrounded him and I was astonished to see his armour and sword flow back into perfect shape. No dents, scratches, notches or discolorations were left once the glow faded slightly. If anything, they shone like they were freshly forged. And when Damien charged, he moved far quicker than he had ever moved before, becoming a blur as he adroitly dodged past the Poison Fang Spiders and attacked the Black Widow.

A skill-slash-spell that restores the user's armour and weapons to full durability and function _and_ ups the physical abilities of the user for a period of time after being invoked?! Talk about a hax skill. Fortunately, even with his power up, the Black Widow is still faster and its chitin is the thickest out of all of the spiders on this floor; even a greatsword with magical strength backing it won't break through it so easily.

While Damien fought the Black Widow, Valerie, Cynthia and Garret faced off against the Poison Fang Spiders. As they were almost as heavily armoured as the Chitin Blade Spiders, Garret's knives were not as effective as he would have liked. Plus, with their long legs, the spells and knives were too slow.

"Right…my turn." Valerie said grimly. "This is taking too long. **[Cast Master]!** "

A purple aura surrounded her as she raised her staff towards the three spider monsters, silently firing several fireballs that struck the spiders and erupted into a veritable conflagration. One managed to evade the hungry flames and was instead smashed by a flurry of blows from Cynthia's mace.

"How long until **[Cast Master]** runs out?" she asked the Fire Mage.

"Another minute tops." Valerie replied. "And Damien's **[Perfect Warrior]** has about the same left."

"Let's get to it then." Garret said grimly.

A skill that allowed the user to cast multiple spells at the same time, _and_ without lengthy incantations to boot?! That was definitely worthy of being called a trump card.

The three comrades swiftly joined Damien, who was starting to flag against the Black Widow. I wanted to take control of the Boss, but apparently a Boss was special and I couldn't assume control of it. Hmm…OK then…let's test their resolve.

 **[Dungeon Magic: Dungeon Fear Aura]!**

A billowing black aura surrounded the Black Widow that halted the adventurers in their tracks. They were struck by a crippling fear aura not too dissimilar to what Glory Girl's aura had done to those she faced in combat.

"Wh…what… _is_ this…?!" Damien choked out as the golden light of his skill sputtered and faded away completely.

"Fear…aura…the Demon Lord…is interfering!" Valerie choked out, her own aura fading too.

"[ **Chorus of Sanctuary]!** " Cynthia bellowed, a golden light enveloping her and her friends, protecting them from the effects of my spell. Drat. These people were literally my mortal enemies! Why couldn't I have gotten some weak Copper One-Stars instead as my first enemies, dammit?!

Freed from their fear, the four worked together to attack the Black Widow. Valerie chanted a spell and engulfed the giant spider in a dome of fire, which it swiftly leapt out of. While I hadn't purchased the intelligence upgrade (not that it could use it against only four enemies), the Black Widow was smart enough on its own to know to get out of fire sharpish.

"I can't believe it withstood an **[Aflame Inferno]** even for a moment!" The Fire Mage spluttered in disbelief.

"Concentrate! Boss monsters are demons that make regular ones look like puppies by comparison." Cynthia grasped her mace tightly and swung it at the nearest leg as she shouted, smashing through the chitin and snapping off a good meter of the appendage.

The Boss reared back and shrieked in pain before leaping to the walls climbing up swiftly and removing itself from the immediate reach of the adventurers, aside from Valerie.

" _ **Spirit of Fire, I beseech thee, bestow thine blessing upon me!**_ " the Mage chanted, beads of sweat gathering on her forehead. " _ **Let your flames devour all that stands before me, unleash the fires of catastrophe! Purifying Breath of Spirit Fire!**_ "

Pointing her staff at the Black Widow, I could feel my jaw drop as, out of fire, a dragon's head formed before her and unleashed pure vermillion flames that engulfed the Boss with a roar. What made it worse was that there was nowhere that the boss could flee to except towards the source of the flames, as Valerie had covered the entire roof with her odd fire.

After maybe thirty seconds, the fire vanished and Valerie slumped to the ground, spent. The Black Widow loomed above the adventurers for a moment before collapsing and falling to the floor…right on top of Damien.

"GYYYYAAAAH!"

"Oh for the love of…Damien, stop messing around." Garret slapped his face in exasperation.

" _Who's_ messing around!?" Damien roared in humiliated fury. "I'm getting _squashed_ by a spider twice the size of a _warhorse_! Get me out of here!"

"Oh dear…" Cynthia sighed.

It took the priestess and the rogue a good while to pull the heavy Knight out from under the corpse of my poor Black Widow. Valerie was seemingly quite drained by that spell she had just pulled, so spent the time recovering, so by the time Damien was pulled free, she could at least stand on her own.

My Black Widow shimmered and vanished when the Mage touched it, turning into three gold coins, a scroll and a cane with a spider carved into the top of it.

"Val, feel up to a couple if identification spells?" Cynthia asked in concern.

"Yes…I just won't be able to use that spell again today." Valerie answered. Thanks to the Mana-rich environment, my reserves are refilling at a goodly rate. Let's see…this is a Scroll of Venom Bane. It can cure any poison up to the fifth level from one person except the reader. The staff here…is a Cane of the Widowmaker. It is a casting tool that can animate and grow the spider carved onto the tip into a golem to fight on the caster's behalf once a day. Not exactly my kind of thing, but I'll keep it as a backup in case my main one breaks for whatever reason."

Once they were finished healing up and recovering from the boss battle, the four adventurers looked each other in the eyes. It was time for them to decide what to do; advance to my lair or withdraw.

"We in?" Damien asked, flexing his right hand. Despite his armour being restored, it hadn't magically given him a new gauntlet for that arm.

"We've come this far." Garret shrugged.

"In the lady's name, this Demon Lord shall be vanquished." Cynthia stated firmly.

"That makes all of us." Valerie said with a nod.

"OK. Let's go." Damien nodded. "Keep your guard up. We have no idea about what this Demon Lord is like."

With that, I withdrew my mind to my body. That was it, then. All of my monsters were dead, all of my traps sprung and all I had between me and them were a couple of unlocked doors. I made a note that, if I survived this, I was so going to increase the lethality of the traps by a lot.

Doing one last thing before they arrived, I added and then purchased a spider silk and chitin mask from the store. It was a half-face mask and only added a small amount of protection to my face, but I didn't mind. I was going to fight for my life and I was not going to do that without a mask of some description.

Mostly out of habit, mind you, but whatever.

I grasped my sword in one hand and the strap of my buckler in the other as the door creaked open.

It was time to fight.

 **And I'll end it here. ^_^**


	90. Demon Lord of the Swarm Arc End

**Demon Lord of the Swarm Arc 1 End (original chapter Chapter 86)**

As the four adventurers approached the large double doors that were the last barrier between them and the Demon Lord, Valerie felt the amount of magic in the area rise sharply. It was almost intoxicating…

"Val? Hello Val?"

She looked up sharply when a hand waved in front of her face. Damien was looking at her in concern. "What?"

"You've been standing there looking like an idiot for the last couple of minutes." He informed her. "What's up?"

"The amount of mana in this area is incredibly dense." She answered. "Much more dense than I'd expect of a week old Dungeon and Demon Lord."

"Val, you were, what, eight when the last Dungeon was overrun and the Demon Lord was killed?" the Knight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My teacher showed me readings that he had taken in the first four floors of that Dungeon prior to the Demon Lord getting killed." The Fire Mage snapped at him. "The feeling of the mana on this section of the floor is almost equal to the density of the end of the third floor of that Dungeon!"

"That…isn't good." Garret said after a moment.

"It does not change our task, merely confirming the danger we face." Cynthia said stoically.

"Right." Damien nodded. "I'll take point. I've read that the doors of the Demon Lord's lair are never trapped for some reason, but I have the best defence to take any nasty surprises that may be around there."

"Are you sure? You've taken some bad hits throughout the dungeon." Cynthia asked in concern.

Garret coughed a word that sounded suspiciously like 'Pitfall.'

Generously deciding to _not_ throttle his party member for being a cheeky bugger, Damien merely glowered at him before starting forwards again, followed by the others.

As they approached the doors, they creaked open, revealing a large empty room…and a person standing in front of a throne. Exuding an invisible aura of power, Valerie felt her mouth dry up as she beheld the Demon Lord of the Dungeon.

Standing two inches or so taller than Damien, whipcord thin, but with muscles revealed by the tight-ish clothes the figure wore, she could tell that this was no mere newborn but a warrior. The sight of breasts, albeit hidden beneath its clothes surprised her. A _female_ Demon Lord? That was a new one. All of the recorded Demon Lords had either been male or had a form that didn't seem to _have_ any gender. She had long brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders and was rather stunning.

The clothes themselves seemed to be made of some strange material that she recognised as the silken threads of spiders, as well as armoured by an unknown substance across key locations on the body. Light armour, intended to protect whilst not hindering movement or agility by any verifiable degree. So, a speed-type fighter? The short sword and buckler in her hands suggested that as well.

The stance of the Demon Lord was what caught her eye next. It was relaxed, but not unguarded. From the way she stood, Valerie could see that this woman was an experienced combatant and was ready to attack or dodge the moment she or her companions made an aggressive move against her.

"You know." The Demon Lord spoke up in a mildly irked voice. "It is usually considered _impolite_ to keep a lady waiting, isn't it?"

"A _woman_ …is the _Demon Lord_." Damien said flatly, as if completely unable to register such an absurdity. Understandable, but it pissed off Valerie a little.

"An uncommon occurrence?" the Demon Lord enquired, and Valerie noticed that her face was actually partially covered by a half-face mask made out of the same material as her clothes.

"Considering all of the _others_ have either been genderless or male, yes." Garret said dryly.

"Ah. Curious." The woman looked thoughtful for a moment. "Anyway, before you attack, I'd like to talk for a moment if that's alright."

"Demon, what tricks are you pulling?" Cynthia demanded.

"I _was_ a human, you know." The Demon Lord retorted. "Urgh, religious fanatics, I swear…"

"I say we play along." Valerie suggested. "Let's see what she wants."

"I have to advise against this." Cynthia said frostily. "For all we know, she has some form of mind magic and is planning on brainwashing us into being her slaves or something."

"I don't _have_ mind magic." The Demon Lord rolled her eyes in apparent exasperation. "Not that a staid and devoted follower of a religion like you will believe me."

"What do you want to know?" Garret asked, preventing Cynthia from going on a diatribe. It was a sad fact that she abhorred demons, to the point that she discriminated against any full-blood demons that she came across. As her family had been murdered by rampaging monsters caused by the last Dungeon growing, this was somewhat understandable.

"First, how are Dungeons and Demon Lords created and for what purpose from your perspective?" the woman asked. "I have some information that I need confirmation of."

How are they created? Why? What on earth…?

"We humans -in fact, all of the civilised races- would be curious to know the answer to those questions ourselves." Damien said slowly. "No divine augury has revealed the reason, nor has asking any high-ranking demon."

"Ah…is it from lack of effort or lack of ability, I wonder…?" the Demon Lord mused. "For my part, I am told that Dungeons and Demon Lords are created by the Will of the Planet itself and that your world is lacking in something called 'life energy' and that my dungeon produces it as it expands. As a consequence, monsters feed off of it and grow numerous."

Shock filled the four adventurers. No wonder the auguries had failed. No wonder demons didn't know the answer. The _planet itself_ was making the Dungeons? What madness was this?

"Is there a drought going on in the world above, or perhaps a suspicious lack of successful crops for no apparent reason?" the Demon Lord pressed.

"The harvests _have_ been getting less bountiful for some reason." Garret admitted. "I think it started about…what, two years ago?"

"Something like that." Valerie agreed neutrally. "There's no drought though."

"Not true; there's one over in the Zuma Theocracy, where the last Dungeon was sited." Damien corrected her.

"Hmm…interesting…so this whole 'will of the planet' thing isn't as unbelievable as it sounds." The woman before them mused aloud.

"That doesn't explain why the monsters go nuts and kill innocent people because of your Dungeon!" Cynthia barked.

"Do you mourn every hair that falls from your head when you have your hair cut?" the Demon Lord asked with a flat tone of voice. "Or mourn every bit of detritus every time you cut your nails? To the planet, each individual human life is probably worth far, far less than that. I haven't communicated with the Planet, so this is merely an educated guess, but I suspect it operates under a 'you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs' mentality."

' _It made sense._ ' a part of Valerie's mind thought, even as the rest of her mind became numb. ' _A planet would view creatures as small as humans or any of the other races as dust mites or something even smaller and more insignificant. I regularly buy spells to destroy mites in order to keep allergies away from my companions…if the planet feels it needs to restore life to parts of itself and cause casualties in the process, I think it would do it…_ '

"And we should believe you because of _why_ , exactly?" the Priestess scoffed.

"My lack of cause for lying to you, perhaps?" the Demon Lord drawled. "What possible reason could I have for deceiving you, hmm?"

"I do not know, but I will not trust you!" Cynthia growled.

The woman sighed and placed her hand over her face before dragging it down her face, seemingly exasperated. "And I thought those idiots from _The Fallen_ were nuts for worshiping the Endbringers." She muttered.

"The who?" Val asked before she could stop herself.

"I was reincarnated into this body from another world entirely, one where three giant beasts were destroying humanity, which we referred to as the Endbringers." The Demon Lord answered absently. "Some morons decided worshiping them would maybe save them from their attacks…more fool them."

"Did your gods not intervene?" Garret asked curiously.

"If my world had any gods, they did not." A small smile flashed across her face for a moment. "As it turned out, the greatest threat was the one we called our greatest protector, Scion, rather than the Endbringers. He was what you might call a physical god, as strong as a god without actually _being_ a god. He rampaged across multiple realities and killed millions, perhaps _billions_ , of people before I got tired of it and used the power of another to fully unlock my own power, at the cost of my sanity. I hunted him down, mind controlling every warrior from my home world who could make a difference to do so. In the end, I killed him…and then I allowed someone to kill me, so I in turn would not become a greater monster than Scion."

A gnawing sensation of fear grew in Valerie's mind. By all the gods…if what she was saying was true…

"I lost the power to control people's minds when I reincarnated, thankfully, and I also lost the insanity that was threatening to overwhelm my mind." The Demon Lord really was smiling now. "Just about the worst part of this second life of mine is the fact that people are still going to want to kill me because I control a Dungeon. Such is life, I suppose."

"You're _glad_ that you've been disempowered?" Damien asked sceptically.

"I was originally someone possessing the power to control arthropods…insects, crabs, worms, spiders." The woman before them shrugged. "Using such a seemingly low-tier power, my team and I became the shadow rulers of an entire city, even managing to overcome vastly more powerful enemies where I should have been killed. I wanted power, yes, but to the point that it cursed me with insanity? No. That isn't something I wanted. Now that I have this new body and my old power back, I can work my way to further strength as my Dungeon grows."

"You assume that you're going to be alive once we're done with you." Cynthia spat.

"I am actually confident I can face you all and win." The Demon Lord retorted, making the adventurers stiffen in shock. "While I would give your teamwork a solid ten out of ten, and your skills a similarly high score, your decision making skills haven't impressed me. I am aware of everything in my Dungeon, so I have _heard_ everything you have _said_ and _seen_ everything that you have _done_ while inside of it. A simple desire for greater rank and prestige has exhausted you physically, mentally and spiritually. It is plain that you people have little to no experience in delving dungeons cautiously and carefully. If you did have to invade my Dungeon, turning back after the third room would have been the most sensible choice, as you had an idea about the way my dungeon worked by that point, as well as what monsters I had and how to fight them. Returning with specialised equipment and more members would have been more advantageous to you at that point."

"You…!" Damien growled.

"Ah yes, Damien the Knight." The Demon Lord looked straight at him, her eyes pinning him in place. " _You_ should not have taken the lead upon entering the dungeon, instead giving that role to the rogue in your group. The two pitfalls and the arrow trap that you tripped served as a suitable punishment for that. This entire escapade is _your_ doing and you should be ashamed of yourself for risking the lives of your friends for the sake of a mere _rank_."

"We all agreed to enter." Valerie protested.

"Yes, compounding his error." The Demon Lord sighed. "I recall one of you mentioning that during the last Dungeon's life, it took _fifty_ adventurers to invade the Dungeon and slay my predecessor? With over three-quarters of that number dead by the end of it? That should have made you cautious. Because I am willing to bet that the majority of those casualties were not caused by the Dungeon…they were caused by the Demon Lord."

"We shall see." Cynthia curled her lip as she took a firmer grip of her mace. "Unlike the Demon Lord of the Snarling Maw, you have only been alive for a week. There is no possible way for you be as strong as that Demi-Demon was."

"A what now?" the Demon Lord sounded puzzled.

Remembering that this Demon Lord claimed to be a human from another world, Valerie spoke up. "A Demi-Demon is a halfblooded demon. They have one demon parent and a non-demon parent. The one from a decade ago was half-demon, half-Dark Elf, I believe."

"I see. Thank you for the information." The nod she received was genuinely thankful. "One last question before we get to the main business. You are Silver Three-Star Ranked adventurers, correct? How exactly are the adventurers ranked? I have little idea about how strong a bunch of greenhorns might be compared to you four."

"There are a lot of ranks." Garret started. "At the very, very bottom, you have Stone Rank, which has five stars, or seniority ranks, in it. Stone Rankers are usually kids at an Adventurer Academy, although some low-ranked adventurers stay at this rank for their entire lives. Once you achieve the fifth star in Stone Rank, you must go through a basic proficiency test and, if you pass it, you become a Copper One-Star."

"Starting at Copper Rank, the ranks only have three levels within them, but they are much harder to advance between." Valerie continued. "You are unlikely to ever see Stone Ranked Adventurers, just so you know, as they are forbidden from leaving the cities unless with a more senior Adventurer."

"The ranks go Stone, Copper, Brass, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Titanium, Platinum and Diamond." Damien finished. "Most you'll find are Iron or Bronze rank, as it gets harder and harder to advance from One-Star to Three-Star, let alone between Ranks, as you go up. At Titanium, Platinum and Diamond Rank, the levels go back to having five stars, as there are a lot more nuances in how strong someone is at that level."

"I see." The Demon Lord nodded seriously. "And is there actually anyone in the world who has achieved Diamond Five-Star Rank?"

"One." Cynthia stated. "She has not been seen since she slew the Demon Lord of the Snarling Maw a decade ago. Supreme Paladin Jessabelle Reed."

"Well that's something at least." The woman sighed. "Now then...to get straight to business, I'm offering you four a chance to surrender right now. I dislike killing unnecessarily and I could certainly use your knowledge of this world, as my information source is very much limited. I doubt you'll take it though."

"Correct." Cynthia said in irritation and anger.

"Professional pride, dontcha know." Garret said with a shrug.

"Surrender isn't in my dictionary." Damien said as he readied his sword.

"And I'm not one to abandon my comrades." Valerie sighed.

"As I thought." The Demon Lord nodded. "Well then, a little introduction on my part is necessary. "I was once known as Taylor Hebert, Weaver of the Wards and Skitter the Warlord. My Demon Name is Hellebore and I am the Demon Lord of the Swarm. Name yourselves, adventurers who seek battle with me."

"Damien, the Iron Knight."

"Valerie, the Fire Witch."

"Cynthia, the Hammer of Demons."

"Garret of the Shadows."

' _A_ title-born _Demon Lord?!_ ' Valerie thought with a sinking feeling even as she spoke. It was very, very rare for a Demon Lord of a Dungeon to be born with a title, but when they were, they were often the most powerful enemies in the world for those who sought to defeat them. Most Dungeons earned a title only after creating a sufficient number of a specific type of monsters or a certain type of Dungeon Floor. The previous Demon Lord, the Demon Lord of the Snarling Maw, had specialised in lizards and other monsters with scales and fangs, had only earned its title after the fifth floor had been made.

Compared to the Demon Lord of the Deep, who had created _underwater_ Floors while the Dungeon had been situated in the _middle of the desert_ , who had existed a century ago, the Demon Lord of the Snarling Maw had been weak as hell. And now the four of them were facing off against a Demon Lord of equally frightening power.

' _If she's this strong after only a week, I shudder to think how strong she might become after a year._ ' Valerie thought with a grimace. She put the things the Demon Lord…what the _former human Taylor Hebert_ …had said to the back of her mind. Regardless of what she had said or even the validity of what she had said, they were adventurers and it was their duty to slay Demon Lords and other monsters that threatened the world.

"Tell you what." Taylor smirked. "I'll give you all a bit of an advantage. The walking Ironmongery over there can have one free strike at me. I won't move, nor will I physically block or use magic to stop him. He can even use a skill to increase his attack power."

"You…! Don't frigging well underestimate me!" Damien howled and charged forwards before the others could stop him. Raising his blade high, he shouted out the name of the most powerful offensive skill in his repertoire.

" **[Berserk Sword]!** "

The red aura that appeared around his blade and arms signalled that the powerful skill had successfully activated. For the duration of this single strike, Damien's physical strength would be doubled and the sword would magnify the damage it dealt, but the price was that he would be weakened overall for a handful of minutes after using it. The overall durability of his sword would be greatly reduced as well.

"Dammit, Damien!" Garret shouted, utterly exasperated with his friend. "We've _told_ you not to use that as anything but a last resort!"

Ignoring him, Damien reached Taylor and swung his sword down, aiming to cut through her collarbone and bisect her from there to the groin. The greatsword shrieked as it cut through the air and slammed into her shoulder, the wind storm the sword ruffling the Demon Lord's hair.

"…huh?" Valerie blinked. Other than her hair being ruffled, the **[Berserk Sword]** seemingly hadn't done any damage whatsoever. It hadn't even cut through her clothes!

"Wha…at? Impossible!" Damien gasped, even as the red glow faded and his body sagged slightly.

"Hmm. Looks like I should have checked my equipment beforehand." The Demon Lord mused as she grabbed ahold of the blade of the greatsword with one hand. "Evidently my clothes are enchanted with spells that increase the effect of my passive skills. How useful."

"What…are you?!" Cynthia choked out.

"Ah, I knew I left something out of my introduction." Taylor smiled, or at least she bared her teeth. "The precise race I reincarnated as is 'Archdemon' and the skill that neutralised your friend's attack here is **[Nigh Invulnerable Demonic Body]**."

"Oh…hell…" Valerie gulped. An Archdemon, one of the highest ranked demonic races. Almost legendary for their physical and magical strength and endurance, they were as rare as hen's teeth and more deadly than a basilisk. With one of the giant snakes, at least you _knew_ to look for a serpent the length of a small city's curtain wall, but with Archdemons, they had two separate forms to switch between, so just because you knew what their demonic form looked like didn't mean they couldn't sneak up on you using their human form, the perfect wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Shit." Garret drew and threw a dagger in one motion, even as he spoke. It literally bounced off her other shoulder without doing anything.

" _My_ turn." The Demon Lord growled. She tugged hard at the greatsword in her hand, throwing Damien off-balance, before slamming her short sword into his side using the flat of the blade. It flashed white upon impact and Damien was sent flying through the air to crash onto the ground to the right in a heap of limbs and metal. Valerie could see that the place where his armour had been struck had a dent the size and shape of a short sword's blade.

"A…an enchanted blade?!" Valerie stammered out. Enchanters were not rare at all, but most of them were old fogies who were more interested in their own research than actually selling their services to those who needed them, so aside from Gold-Rank adventurers and up, Kingdom Army Officers and Royalty, you rarely saw anything but the most basic of items, made by Apprentices and Journeymen to earn a bit of extra cash, on the market and in the field.

"Don't just stand there! _Kill_ her!" Cynthia roared. "I'll heal Damien while you hold her off!"

"No, you won't." Taylor said and pointed a finger at her. " _ **Dungeon Teleport!**_ "

With a loud POP, the priestess vanished from the room.

"Sent her back to the first room. It'll take her a while to get back here." The Demon Lord said in satisfaction. "Once she is, I can take care of her. Until then, I'll beat you all senseless."

" _ **Spirit-!**_ " Valerie started to chant. The next second, Taylor had travelled the distance between them with a single leap and had driven her shield-hand's fist into her stomach, making the Mage fold around it.

" _Gurk…!_ " she choked before flying back a couple of meters, dropping her staff as she did, and curling into a ball as she tried not to regurgitate the contents of her stomach.

"Your greatest weakness is your dependence on chanting." The Demon Lord informed her. "I'll take this."

Picking up Valerie's staff, she threw it to the far side of the room to prevent her from grabbing it again.

"And that leaves…Garret." Taylor mused with her eyes shut. "Who is using some kind of super stealth skill to vanish from my ability to see him with my eyes. A _very_ impressive technique. However…"

Abruptly, she turned around and a deluge of insects erupted from her mouth, slamming into what was apparently empty space but was revealed to have Garret lurking invisibly. He reappeared with a shriek as the swarm of bugs bowled him over, infiltrating his clothes and biting at his flesh. Taylor appeared next to him in a blur of movement and struck him on the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious.

"In my Dungeon, I am able to see the location of any _one_ or any _thing_ simply by willing it. Add into the fact that one of my former teammates was a Stranger _par excellence_ and you are not very effective against me. Imp makes you look like an amateur by comparison." She informed him before dodging to one side to avoid a swing of a greatsword aimed at her neck.

"Stay still!" Damien shouted as he readied his weapon for another strike.

"Nope. You only get one freebie." Taylor quipped and, after dodging another swipe of his two-handed sword, darted in, slamming the edged length of her weapon on Damien's unarmoured hand, cutting it down to the bone.

"GAAAAAAAAH!" he roared in pain as blood spurted from the wound. Then the sword flashed white again and it cut through his arm completely, making him scream in agony and disbelief.

"DAMIEN!" Valerie screamed in horror. He was maimed. Crippled for life. His days as an adventurer over for good, unless he could scrape together enough coin to pay someone to make him a fully functional artificial limb.

"You stepped into the lion's den. Don't blame the lion for biting your head off when you stick it in its mouth." Taylor said coldly.

A wave of fury coursed through Valerie's veins at that. The fact that the Demon Lord - Demon _Lady_? - was right didn't assuage her whatsoever. Damien had been her party member for over four years, since she had started adventuring after leaving her Master at eighteen. He had saved her life dozens of times, just as she had saved his the same amount. Together with Cynthia and Garret, they had clawed their way up to the peak of Silver Rank, and now he would be forced to retire?!

This would not be tolerated!

" **[Fury Overdrive]!** " she shouted as she withdrew the emergency casting tool that she had taken from the Floor Boss' corpse. A wave of red light burst from her body and formed an aura around her in the form of raging flames. This was her ultimate trump card: **[Fury Overdrive]**. A skill that allowed her to cast silently and at twice the power for three minutes. As with Damien's **[Berserk Sword]** , it was a skill of last resort because it greatly weakened her spellcasting abilities for a short time after it was used, but she was too enraged to think of the consequences right now.

Even as Taylor turned to face her in surprise, Valerie created a spear of fire and threw it at her with a snarl. The Demon Lord then flew straight up, totally avoiding the fiery projectile, and then hovered in the air. Blinking, Valerie spotted a set of almost transparent membranes buzzing behind the Demon Lord. Insect wings.

"An Arthromancer…" she breathed. Insect magic…of course, she had known _that_ since Garret had been taken down with a breath attack made of flying insects, but this just drove it home. Insect magic was very weak at its lowest levels, but when used at the height of its power, then it could contend with almost every kind of other magic so long as its user was smart and cunning enough.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Valerie reminded herself that she was on a strict time limit, not to mention a mental limit. When Taylor had spoken of the party being mentally and spiritually exhausted, she had glanced over at Valerie specifically, which was only fair. The human mind was only capable of casting so many spells per day, especially in quick succession. Most of her weak spells had been used up, and her strongest spell was gone as well, but that still left her with all of her mi-level spells to play with.

The next minute consisted of Valerie throwing out fiery death that would have been perfectly good at burning a certain Demon Lord to death if they could only _hit_ her! Unfortunately, with Taylor flitting around like a giant fly, hitting her was almost as hard as getting one of those irritating things!

In the meanwhile, Taylor had been blasting at her with that insect breath attack whenever she got close enough, which forced the Fire Mage to blast them with what few of her low-level spells she had left. It was fortunate that insects in general were generally speaking extremely vulnerable to fire, although there were some insects of the fire element in monsters, the so-called 'firebug' category. _Those_ were a pain to deal with.

' _Shit, I'm running out of time!_ ' Valerie though furiously. She only had a minute left before she became as magically weak as a kitten.

"V-Val…!"

She looked up to see Damien stagger to his feet, his greatsword clasped in his one remaining hand.

"Damien?!"

"You still…have that temporary magic enchantment spell, right?" he grunted out, pain filling his voice. "Use it and I'll cut that bitch in half! Her skill only works on non-magical weapons!"

Valerie only hesitated for a single moment before doing it. It was a spell she almost never used, mostly because Damien had had too much pride before now to let her use it on him.

As soon as the red glow surrounded his sword, the Knight charged at Taylor, who regarded him evenly as she landed.

"You won't surrender, Iron Knight?" she asked softly.

"Never!" he roared. "I would rather die first!"

"As you seek…so shall you receive." She sighed, raised her right hand and clicked her fingers.

A pit formed beneath Damien and a large head with scything mandibles and a ravening maw emerged from within, slamming its jaws down on Damien the Iron Knight and biting him in half before vanishing.

As the corpse of her friend fell to the floor in an explosion of gore and shattered metal, Valerie let out a wail of loss and grief, renewing her attack with murder in mind.

It was this scene that Cynthia came upon when she charged back in. She looked at the rapidly cooling corpse of Damien, the unconscious form of Garret and the furious assault that Valerie was performing and decided to help. She reached out across the spiritual connection that she had to her patron goddess, the Lady Lumina, and tried to manifest one of Her Messengers to face the demon.

…

Nothing happened. She tried again and it _still_ didn't work. It didn't make any sense! **[Divine Manifestation]** was a skill that she had worked for years to learn and master! And yet it felt as if there was some sort of impenetrable wall or barrier between her and the lady Lumina!

' _No…not a wall…a dam!_ ' she realised. ' _I can still access all of my other abilities, albeit with great difficulty, but summoning one of Lady Lumina's Messengers or even manifesting a portion of Her Divine Will is impossible. Accursed Demon!_ '

"And then there was one." Taylor said after a meaty 'thunk' resounded throughout the room. Valerie was out cold at her feet, utterly defeated.

"What have you done with my connection to the Lady Lumina?!" Cynthia hissed as she brandished her weapon.

"Your connection is untouched." The Demon Lord looked amused. "It is simply that, as what happens when you muffle sound with a pillow, so too are your entreaties to your goddess while within the Dungeon, with only your ability to call forth a portion of your goddess or one of her subordinates completely silenced. In this Dungeon, there is only _one_ being that reigns supreme here, and that is _me_."

"I will smite you in my Lady's name and avenge Damien!" the Priestess growled.

"With your friends unconscious or dead, your final trump card neutralised and facing a Demon Lord?" Taylor said with heavy scepticism. "There's determination and then there's suicide. Just so you know, what you're doing is _definitely_ the latter."

"Faith in My Lady demands I do all that I can in Her Name." Cynthia declared as she charged her mace with **[Blessing of Light]** , a basic skill of the Clergy of Lumina that imbued the weapon to be the bane of demons, dealing extra damage per hit.

"I see. Then may you be gifted with the embrace of your goddess in the afterlife." The Demon Lord said sorrowfully and readied her weapons.

In the next minutes after that, Priestess Cynthia of the Lady Lumina fought the Demon Lord of the Swarm in and to hand combat, fulfilling her duty to her patron goddess in full. When she fell, her throat slashed open, it was with the contented smile of one who had performed her duty to the best of her abilities.

 _With Taylor_

Looking down at the dead bodies of Damien and Cynthia, I oddly enough didn't feel very much in the way of disgust at my actions. I did feel sorry that they had forced me to kill them, however.

I braced myself and then absorbed all of the foreign materials in my Lair and Dungeon, not including the unconscious bodies of Garret and Valerie.

 **You have absorbed [Damien the Iron Knight]! You earn 50 Mana!**

 **You have absorbed [Cynthia, the Hammer of Demons]! You earn 50 Mana!**

 **You have absorbed [Uncommon Steel Plate Mail Armour Set]! You earn 40 DP! Item has been unlocked in the store for purchase!**

 **You have absorbed the [Staff of Crystallised Fire]! You earn 60 DP! [Mage Staff] has been unlocked in the store for purchase! [Fire Essence] has been unlocked for Dungeon and monster use!**

 **Error, cannot absorb [Cane of the Widowmaker]! Items originating from within the dungeon cannot be absorbed!**

 **You have absorbed [Common Steel Greatsword]! You earn 20 DP! Item unlocked in the store for purchase!**

 **You have absorbed [Mace of Lumina]! You earn 60 DP! Options unlocked that require a sapient and/or sentient monster to view!**

 **You have absorbed [Common Steel Throwing Dagger]! You earn 10 DP! Item unlocked in the store for purchase!**

 **You have absorbed [Priestess Vestments of Lumina]! You earn 20 DP! Items unlocked that requires the Demon Lord to control a humanoid monster to view.**

 **You have absorbed [Book of Lumina]! You earn 100 DP! Options unlocked that require a sapient and/or sentient monster to view!**

 **You have absorbed miscellaneous other items! You earn 10 DP! A lot of options unlocked!**

 **Achievement earned! [That was Disarming]! You gain 10 DP!**

 **Achievement earned! [Half of What He Used To Be]! You gain 10 DP!**

 **Achievement earned! [Survived First Invasion]! You gain 20 DP!**

 **Achievement earned! [Meh, We Can Take Her]! You gain 20 DP!**

 **Achievement earned! [Going for the Throat]! You gain 10 SP!**

I felt my head spin as the information washed over me, to the point that my head ached. Urgh…and I was feeling…bloated. As if I'd gorged myself on food.

…

Oh. I had.

 **You have sufficient Mana to create a new Floor of your Dungeon!**

 **Do you wish to do so?**

 **Y|N**

I hit the 'Y' key quickly. I did _not_ want to get Mana Poisoning, thank you very much. There was such a thing as too much of a good thing, and this was exactly that kind of situation. The rumbling as a new level of depth was dug out by the system started, and I saw that it would take thirty minutes to complete my Second Floor.

Glancing at the unconscious forms of Valerie and Garret, I tried to do something I'd never tried before…used my imagination to envisage a new type of room rather than an item.

 **Room Type: [Prison Room] has been conceived! Blueprint has been added to stock.**

 **Prison Room: An area of the Dungeon that is almost entirely self-supporting. It is designed to hold captured invaders prisoner whilst keeping them alive. The unique feature of this room is that without the permission of the Demon Lord, anyone held in this room cannot leave it. Additionally, the presence of prisoners adds +5 to the Daily Mana Intake per prisoner. Costs 20 DP to create.**

Now, I knew that a lot of people would call me an idiot for not killing these two while I had the chance, but…I honestly could say that I had almost no desire to kill them. Damien had reminded me of Armsmaster/Defiant too much with his desire for power and prestige, while Cynthia had reminded me too much of fanatics back on Earth Bet, like diehard Nazis from the Empire 88, or members of Haven, the Christian Cape Organisation, or the Endbringer-worshiping Fallen or some of the Case-53's that had stormed Cauldron.

Valerie and Garret though, didn't disturb me. They were, from what I had seen, fairly good people, who fought and cared for those they were close to. I could just hope that they would eventually forgive me for killing their friends, or at least learn to put it to one side.

Starting forwards, I stumbled again, making me scowl. What the hell?! I hadn't stumbled even once because of my body during the entire fight, and now I was clumsy again? This was starting to become irritating.

I quickly built a corridor off to one side of the Lair and built the Prison room before moving its first 'guests' in. The next thing I did was open its upgrade options menu.

 **Prison Room Upgrades**

 **\- Have food and water automatically spawned for the prisoners three times a day – 10 DP**

 **\- Harden prison walls, floors and ceiling to prevent prisoners from digging out (or trying to at least) – 10 DP**

 **\- Add basic beds and other furniture – 5 DP**

 **\- Add a Privy that automatically cleanses itself once used – 10 DP**

 **\- Add an 'observer's area' where you can interact with the prisoners without risking them committing suicide by attacking you – 10 DP**

 **\- Prevent any form of suicide, including mutual death, on the part of the prisoners – 10 DP**

Buying all of them, I watched as the surfaces of the entire room became as hard as granite, as basic beds with straw mattresses and ordinary duvets appeared, as a pair of chairs and a table appeared, as a wooden door with the word 'Privy' on it appeared on one side of the room and as the room expanded a bit, with a transparent barrier appearing two-thirds of the way into the room.

With a wave of one hand, the barrier lowered and I dragged Garret and Valerie in, dumping each on a bed to slumber for a while longer.

"I am sorry about this." I said softly. "I just don't want to die again…not so soon after I started to live again."

Stepping back, I raised the barrier again and left the room. As I walked, I pressed the button that respawned all of my monsters and reset the Spider Puzzle room. Thanks to it being a Spider floor, I didn't have to pay for it, which was a bonus.

Several things about what the four had said during their invasion troubled me. Not the least was of fifty adventurers invading a dungeon at the same time. No matter how dangerous I made my Spiders, that kind of number was impossible to fight against.

I sat on my throne and decided to review the rooms I had available. If I didn't have one that fit the problem, I'd make one. Thankfully, I found a room that fit the bill nicely.

 **Entrance Hall: A room that adventurers can gather and rest in before delving into your Dungeon. The Demon Lord can set a maximum party number, as well as how many parties can delve the Dungeon at any one time. Free to emplace, does not count against the First Floor Room Limit.**

Unless my predecessor hadn't known about this room, I really cannot understand why he was taken down in the way he was. Either that or he had figured that he could handle any invaders regardless of their numbers and had allowed as many people to enter as was possible to get the maximum possible Mana as quickly as was possible.

Not so me. I quickly placed the room and set the maximum party size to six and only allowing one party at a time to enter. I hadn't placed this room originally because I'd gotten caught up in building my monsters, and then I'd clean forgotten about it afterwards. Shame on me, but gimme a break; I'd been too busy recovering from the memories of my descent into insanity and throwing myself into micromanaging my monsters had been the easiest way to take my mind off of it.

Half an hour later, a cheery 'ding' sound reverberated throughout the entire Dungeon.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **You have just added a second floor to your Dungeon!**

 **Your Available Mana Limit is increased by 50!**

 **Please select the type of terrain that this new floor will be made up of:**

 **\- Volcanic Cavern**

 **\- Abandoned Mine**

 **\- Seaside Cave**

This was interesting. I could see why I'd gotten those options. The volcanic cavers probably came from the fire essence I'd absorbed, plus the staff I'd taken from Valerie, while I knew, from browsing the various items I'd absorbed from the four adventurers, that one of them had been a vial of salt water. Quite _why_ they had salt water on them was beyond me, but who was I to question the sort of items that adventurers on Pangea lugged about with them?

The mine was obviously a standard upgrade to the basic cave that I had on the previous floor and it was the one I was leaning towards the most, to be honest. A gradual progression would make this place more interesting to design, and it wasn't as if I'd have anything else to do, would I?

Choosing the Abandoned Mine terrain skin (which was basically what it was, really), I was then presented with another screen.

 **Monster Selection**

 **As you have a second floor, you must make a choice between three options:**

 **1) Choose a different monster in the same category (Arthropods).**

 **2) Choose a separate category of monsters, and then select a monster from that category.**

 **Choosing the first option is what most Demon lords choose and look what happened to them.**

I could see where it was coming from, but it could be just a little bit nicer when it talked about my predecessors. I chose the second option, as overspecialisation meant death in this world. There were a lot of categories: Beasts, Aqueous, Infernal, Holy, Constructs, Demi-Human, Undead, Elemental, Magical Beast, Avian…the list went on.

I immediately ruled out Undead. No way did I want to deal with corpses, aside from those I absorbed. Besides, it would make the second floor vulnerable to both fire _and_ holy magic users.

After hemming and hawing for a while, I chose Demi-Human. I remembered that there were quite a few demi-human races in fantasy novels, so this wouldn't limit my choices by much. A minute later, a screen popped up with three choices on it.

 **Second Floor Monster Choices:**

 **\- Ratmen**

 **\- Night Goblins**

 **\- Kobolds**

I immediately rules out ratmen. I didn't mind bugs, but I did _not_ like rats. Anthropomorphic, _humanoid_ rats…just no. Kobolds, if I remembered correctly, were either doglike or reptilian humanoids. A quick check showed me that it was the latter on this world and as the _last_ Demon Lord had apparently specialised in lizard-like monsters, I would bet that there would be plenty of veterans who knew how to deal with them, which really left me only one choice.

As I pressed the button to select the Night Goblins, I bared my teeth. Time to get cracking.

 **OK, so…what have we learned today? Number 1; never trust SeerKing when he says he's going to end something on a big cliffie. Number 2, never, ever count out the Queen of Escalation, especially when she's the next best thing to immune to mundane weaponry.**

 **If I were writing a proper fic, the next chapter would be an interlude in Stevensport and in a few other places, with the next proper chapter alternating between Taylor checking her clothes out, building up her dungeon and talking to her captives. Again, no more than one guest review per person please.**


	91. She's a Hero

Taylor Hebert was not accustomed to good things happening to her in the months since her mother's death. Including the death of her mother, her father's all but total emotional collapse and the fact that something had happened to Emma to make her break off their friendship while Taylor had been at Summer Camp, that was a lot of reasons to think that some divine entity was throwing metaphorical stones in the waters and laughing its ass off as her life went down the toilet as a result.

So when an old friend of her mother, who hadn't been able to make it to the funeral because of a hospital stay, turned up, she was sceptical that it was a good thing.

As it turned out though, old Stan Lee was turning into something of a rock in the turbulent waters of her life right now. He had moved to Brockton Bay on a permanent basis, as all of his family had passed on during an attack in New York by a villain gang, and he'd even opened a shop there. Unlike most shops, it had a bit of everything in it; general groceries, food, tools, art supplies, gardening supplies and so on and so forth.

What the shop was mostly taken up by though was comic books and toys. Action figures of heroes of the Protectorate and New Wave, of the Triumvirate and of Hero, the Tinker who had been the fourth member of them before they had been given the name. There were board games, games consoles and other things too.

Stan had opened his shop just recently in the Southern Docks area, near to Taylor's neighbourhood and away from the territories of any of the three big gangs of Brockton Bay. He had sunk a lot of his savings into it and Taylor was honestly worried that he would lose it when the inevitable happened and one of the gangs tried to 'persuade' him to pay for 'protection' from little things like Molotov cocktails being thrown at it at night.

Leaving Stan's shop aside, he had kicked her father, Daniel 'Danny' Hebert, back into shape once Stan discovered what a state he was in. To say that there had been a furore in the Hebert house while Stan and Danny shouted at each other was something of an understatement.

The hangovers the pair of them had gone through the next day from the make-up celebration had been amusing for Taylor to watch.

Currently, she was walking towards Stan's shop, Marvel Universe, because he wanted to see her for some reason. Quite why he needed to see her in person was a bit beyond her, as he could just talk to her over the phone, but Stan was quite old fashioned that way.

Marvel Universe was more than a simple shop; it had three floors. The ground floor had food and other perishable items, the second floor had most of everything non-perishable left and the third floor was dedicated to comic books and toys.

Smiling up at the bright technicolour sign, she pushed the door open and went in.

Minding the counter on the first floor was a former member of the Dockworker's Association that her Dad and Stan had hooked up with a job here. Stan had employed several, which was a bit of a relief for them. The Association had been going downhill since Leviathan showed up and the Boat Graveyard was made, with a lot of members turning to crime (and thus the gangs) in order to make ends meet, so being able to point them towards legitimate jobs was something her Dad was happy to be able to do.

"Hey, Joey." she waved at the man.

"Oh, Taylor? Been a while." The blond-haired man waved at her. "The boss wants you on the third floor."

"Roger that." the brunette nodded and started towards the stairs.

The place was fairly bustling, with Cy, Lina and Will, three other employees that Stan had hired, rushed off their feet. Marvel Universe had the novelty of being something brand new in the city, as well has having reasonable prices for most things, so it was apparently pretty popular.

"Ah Taylor!" Stan called out cheerfully as he looked up from stocking the shelves. "Good to see you in person! You should show yourself around here more often."

Stan was a dignified older man with neatly styled silvery-grey hair kept in an impeccable state. He also had a well-trimmed moustache and a large pair of bifocals resting on his nose. Wearing neatly pressed trousers, a tartan shirt and a blue apron with his store's name and the 'Manager' title on it, he looked like the very picture of a businessman.

A shy smile appeared on Taylor's face. "I wouldn't want to bother you when you're busy…"

"Fah. You're _Annette's_ daughter." He waved a hand dismissively. "You wouldn't know how to impose if you tried. Anyway, let me take you to the back. Got something for you…"

Puzzled, Taylor followed him into the back area of the third floor, which was where the storeroom for the products were kept, at least the toys and comic books were, anyway. Looking around, Stan headed for a bunch of boxes and rummaged around in them for a moment before letting out a crow of triumph.

"AH-HA! Found it!" he smirked as he turned around, a box a few inches over a foot high and about seven or eight inches wide in his hands. "Take this, Taylor."

Taylor carefully took it and looked at the box. It contained a white robot only slightly shorter than the box that contained it, with a basic face set in black and the picture printed on the side suggested that when powered on, the eyes would turn blue.

"The 'Heybo'?" she read out its name.

"Yep. Latest and greatest toy robot on the planet." Stan said with a nod. "I have a few contacts in the industry that got me a couplea crates of these beauties for less than they're worth."

It was then that Taylor noticed the price tag on the box that almost made her drop the box in shock.

" _Over three-hundred dollars?!_ " she yelped in shock. The _full_ price was $349.99 and was almost literally the most expensive single item she had ever held in her hands.

"Yeah, these things are intended to be for the rich folks with more money than sense." Stan nodded in agreement with Taylor. "It is actually a top of the line robot, with unparalleled movement ability, flexibility and usability. Look at this."

He showed her a TV ad that had the self-same robot in her hands running and jumping like an athlete. According to Stan, it was 100% actual footage of a Heybo in action. No ad-lies like you saw in most commercials; everything they claimed it could do, it could actually do.

"Is it Tinkertech?" Taylor wondered.

"Nope. It's just the plain, ordinary application of regular science." The shop owner disagreed. "Granted, it's almost bleeding edge tech, but it _is_ just regular science. Now, I'm planning on putting one of these up as a prize in a raffle, selling most of the rest…and giving you this one."

"EH?!" Taylor gaped at Stan in absolute disbelief. "Th-there's no _way_ I can accept this! It's too expensive!"

"Take it, kid." Stan said firmly. "Heck, consider it fourteen years' worth of birthday presents from me. I fell out of contact with your parents after they graduated from college and that's something I regret deeply."

"Was…was it because mom ran with Lustrum?" Taylor asked cautiously.

"I wish it was because of such a petty reason." Stan shook his head sadly. "It was about halfway through the last year your parents were at college that my family died in a stupid villain attack in New York. The one responsible for it is locked up in the Birdcage now, caught by Legend himself. At the time, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and soak in my own anger and misery…kinda like what Danny did when your mom died, kid. That's part of the reason I was able to snap him out of it."

"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Taylor mumbled in mortification.

"It's OK. Time heals all wounds eventually…or at least makes them easier to live with." Stan smiled at Taylor melancholically before shaking himself out of his memories. "Anyway, I would have kept in touch with your family better had I not been so eager to wallow in my misery, so consider this a repayment for all those birthdays and Christmases I missed out on, eh?"

When put like that…

"Ok." Taylor dipped her head slightly in acknowledgement. "Thank you very much, Mr Lee."

"Stan's fine." The man shook his head with a smile. "I swear, you're just like Annette sometimes, although you take after Danny most of the time."

Taylor flushed at that.

 _The Next Day_

"What awful weather." Danny peered out of the front window at the pouring rain.

"Yeah." Taylor agreed. "Is this going to affect any jobs that the guys have going today?"

"If the wind doesn't pick up, then no." the Union Representative of the Dockworker's Association frowned as he eyed the swaying tree across the road. "But I honestly doubt that we're going to be that fortunate. I'll have to reschedule the outdoor jobs if it gets any worse, and even some of the indoor jobs if it gets any worse. I'd better go."

"OK Dad." The girl nodded in agreement. "Mom's recipe Lasagne for dinner sound good?"

The small smile he sent her way was warm. "Sounds lovely, Little Owl."

After her father left, Taylor sighed. The summer break was almost over, and she would be going to Winslow rather than Arcadia. She had originally made the choice to stay with Emma, but now that Emma was, for some reason, acting as if she didn't exist, it was a choice that she regretted.

' _It's too late to request a transfer, and Arcadia has a long waiting list for that kinda thing anyway._ ' She thought as she did the housework. The sound of thunder and the flash of lightning started up as she worked, making her groan.

Dismissing the thought with a sigh, Taylor washed the dishes, hoovered the floors and dusted the place from top to bottom. Something that her Dad always did was the bathroom, so she'd leave that job to him.

Looking around after she finished, Taylor winced when she heard the sound of smashing glass from upstairs…in her room?

Taking the stairs two at a time, she groaned when she opened her room's door. Somehow, the window had broken from the pressure of the strong wind that had kicked up in the last few minutes, the glass scattered around the floor. This was just exactly the kind of financial expenditure that her small family could not afford. Looks like they'd have to tighten their belts another notch.

"Oh no!" she yelped as her eyes fell on the robot Stan had given her that she had absentmindedly placed in front of the window after she had opened the thing up and tested it out last night. Taylor had been flabbergasted that the Heybo was indeed all it cracked up to be. She'd had it leaping all over the place using the circular remote control that came with the Heybo. For lack of place to put it, she'd placed the robot in front of the window, meaning the Heybo was now being soaked by rain.

Looking back at this scenario later on, Taylor wouldn't have changed a thing.

As she started forwards, a freak bolt of lightning lashed out of the sky with a roar and, against all logic and science, smashed through the window and onto the Heybo. From the small robot, it then arced over to strike Taylor, who shrieked in pain as the raw power of a bolt of lightning coursed through her body, making her eyes roll back and-

 **[Destination]**

Two beings dancing around one another.

 **[Agreement]**

One in purpose, symbiotic in nature to one another. To lose one inevitably meant to lose the other.

 **[Alignment]**

From each being a sliver of pale light separated and merged together, arcing towards its intended host.

 **[Agreemen-]**

A flashing blue light slammed into the first light, tainting it and taking it over.

 **[Intrusion!]**

 **[Termination?]**

The two beings gazed at the corrupted Agent through indecipherable means.

 **[Negation. Precipice, Irresistible. Frustration. Anger.]**

Shining blue, yellow, red and white, a single 'voice' made up of many 'shouted' one word as the Agent, now broken free from the control of the two beings, merged with its host.

 **{ENGAGE!}**

 _Undetermined Time Later_

A groan emerged from Taylor's throat as she swam back into consciousness. Surprisingly, considering that the last memory she had was of almost getting electrocuted to death by a bolt of lightning, her body didn't feel sore at all. In fact, she felt better than ever.

"Miss Hebert?" a voice asked. It was of a girl about her age, one she didn't recognise.

Cracking open her eyes, she then snapped them fully open as she took in the form of Panacea, the world's most powerful healer. Dressed in her white robe with red crosses on it, she was regarding Taylor with a concerned expression.

"Are you alright?" Panacea asked carefully.

Opening her mouth to speak, Taylor found that her throat was as dry as a bone and she could only manage a croak.

"Oh. Silly me." The healer shook her head and grabbed a jug of water and poured Taylor a cup before carefully letting her sip a couple of mouthfuls.

"Thanks." Taylor said gratefully. "Where am I?"

"Brockton Bay General." Panacea answered. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Almost being killed by a freak lightning bolt."

"That was no freak accident, Miss Hebert." A male voice said. Stepping into her line of sight (she realised just then that she was lying in a bed) was a man wearing a cheap suit. He had black hair and cold grey eyes. Pulling a wallet out of his pocket, he flipped it open to reveal a PRT badge. "PRT Officer Horizon. I've been assigned to investigate this incident."

"It wasn't an accident?" Taylor blinked.

"A bolt of lightning, according to natural law, typically strikes the closest -usually the tallest- object in the vicinity, which is why skyscrapers in areas frequented by storms have lightning rods, to prevent damage from the constant lightning strikes." Officer Horizon stated shortly. "It does _not_ speed halfway across town, passing the Medhall Building and PRT Buildings, as well as several tall buildings and trees, to smash through the window of a suburban residence and almost kill the only person in the house. This, naturally, leads the Parahuman Response Team to believe that a Parahuman was responsible for the attack on you."

"I…" the brunette shook her head groggily. "Why? I haven't offended any parahumans that I know about. Hell, I haven't offended _anyone_ that I know about…except…"

She trailed off. Officer Horizon leaned in intently. "Except?"

"My ex-best friend, Emma Barnes." Taylor admitted. "She suddenly cut me out of her life when I came back from Summer Camp and…she's changed, _really_ changed a lot. She loved her long hair, she freaked out at the idea of cutting it, but now it's a short pixie cut."

"That isn't exactly a reason to go after you." Horizon stated.

"When I was at the Camp, I was on the phone to her when she started yelling and I got cut off, unable to reconnect." The tall girl said with a small frown. "I think something may have happened to her then, something that caused the change in her, but every time I go over to her house to find out what it might be, she slams the door in my face."

"You were close?" Panacea asked softly.

"Sisters in all but blood." Taylor gave her a slightly watery smile. "I know everything about her and she knows everything about me. I just…I don't know why she'd _do_ this…"

"OK then...I guess that's a lead if nothing else." The man nodded. "I'll be in contact, Miss Hebert."

With that, he left.

"He's as rude as ever." Panacea shook her head. "Anyway…"

"How long have I been in hospital?" the brunette asked suddenly, seeing the bright sunny day out of the window.

"Just a couple of days." The healer answered. "I was called in when it looked as if they were going to lose you."

Taylor cringed. She knew that being hit by lightning was an almost sure-fire way to get killed but… "I was _that_ close to dying?"

"The lightning that struck you was unusually powerful, at least according to a Postcog the PRT talked to, anyway." Panacea informed her. "Usually, the mortality rate of being struck by lightning is around ten to thirty percent. The bolt that struck _you_ would have killed almost _ninety percent_ of people who weren't parahumans in the Brute Category. Congratulations, you're a walking miracle."

"…yay?"

"You had severe electrical burns across your chest, abdomen and right arm, with moderate ones on your legs and left arm. Ruptured eardrums, damaged lungs and most of your circulatory system had moderate to severe injuries…" the healer listed. "It's fortunate that your father and his guest returned home not five minutes after you were struck, otherwise you may have not survived long enough for the doctors to do what they could and call me in."

"Oh no...Dad…" Taylor did not want to think what her father was going through right now. He had almost lost her, so soon after losing her mom…

"He saw you before I woke you up." Panacea assured Taylor firmly. "I sent him home to sleep; he hadn't slept in almost two days. That nice Mr Lee helped convince him."

"Stan helped…thank god." The tall girl sighed. Then she blinked. "Um…how can I be seeing without my glasses?"

"You had damage to your eyes, so when I healed them, I must have healed them to full 20/20 vision on instinct." The healer judged.

"Ah. Well, thank you." Taylor smiled. "So how long till I can leave the hospital?"

"Only as long as it takes for someone here who can act as a guardian to release you to." Panacea replied. "You're in the pink of health now, but I'd really advise for you to avoid the next storm, just in case you turn into a lightning magnet."

Taylor wasn't sure if the other girl was serious or joking there.

 _The Next Day_

 _Hebert Home_

"Huh." Taylor muttered as she stared at the Heybo. When she had returned home the previous day, she had been unsurprised to see that her room had been stripped of everything in it, as the carpet had been badly burned and soaked from the lightning grounding through her and the rain from the smashed open window. What surprised her was that the Dockworkers were helping out with the cash needed to pay for everything.

"Danny's stood by us all these years and done his best to help us, even when Annette…" Kurt, her godfather, had told her quietly when he and Lacey, her godmother and his wife, came over to visit her. "Well, you know. So we all put some cash together when we heard what happened to you, Taylor. Thank god you're alive though."

With that he had drawn her into a hug, much to her embarrassment.

To return to the subject of her curiosity, something she had also expected to have been destroyed by the lightning was the Heybo. And yet, here it stood in the middle of her basement, placed there by Stan when he had helped move most of Taylor's stuff out of her room.

As much as she looked, there were no signs that _anything_ had struck the little robot, let alone a lightning bolt. The plastic armour was pristine, and almost seemed to glimmer in the dim light of the basement.

"No way." Taylor shook her head. "Impossible. I _saw_ this thing get hit. It should be a melted wreck."

She vaguely remembered that lightning was hotter than fire by a considerable amount. No idea where she picked it up from.

Picking up the controller with her left hand, she couldn't help but feel disbelief at the possibility that the robot was still functional. Deciding to get it over with, she quickly squeezed the two triggers on either side of the device with a slight flex of her hand.

A crackle of blue energy arced across the device and entered the small screen, forming the 'H' symbol of the Heybo robot. It had never done that before and Taylor was more than a little bit surprised. But she had no time to do more than gape as the controller exploded with blue light and levitated out of her hand. On some instinct she couldn't understand, she turned her hand palm down.

The controller floated down to hover above it and then white matter appeared, wrapping around her arm, forming a handless gauntlet with the controller set in the centre.

When the light died down, Taylor touched the gauntlet wrapped around her arm and it didn't feel like plastic; it felt metallic, but there was almost no weight to it.

"This thing just violated the Law of Conservation of Mass." She muttered absently. And she was right. All mass had to come from somewhere, it was Panacea's primary limitation with her healing in fact, and about 95% of the gauntlet had just appeared from nowhere.

A flash on the screen clued Taylor in to the fact that her gauntlet was not done surprising her. A blue ring appeared on the black screen and a single cube leapt from it to form a picture in the centre of the screen, the picture of a rugged face surrounded by electric sparks.

Taylor's eyes darted between the face on her screen and the Heybo, noticing how the little robot's face looked like a vastly simplified version of the face on the screen. Could it be…?

Tentatively, Taylor reached out and pressed a finger to the screen. The reaction was immediate.

The screen blazed with blue light and the Heybo's head snapped up, its eyes shining with blue energy, before blue electricity erupted from its body, making Taylor back up and instinctively hide her eyes from the bright light.

Squinting, she saw the form of a large humanoid figure growing in the light and, when the electricity faded, she got a good look at the giant looming over her. It was at least six and a half feet tall, perhaps more, scraping against the ceiling of the basement as it was. It was built like a solid mountain, thick arms and legs and a wide chest. It was armoured in a similar substance to the gauntlet on her hands, but the parts that weren't armoured were blue. A thick red stripe ran down each arm and white stars decorated the area above the hip armour.

But it was the face that drew Taylor's attention. Unlike the Heybo it had grown from, the giant had a proper face, eyes, nose and mouth, and the eyes, electric blue coloured, were focussed on her own now and seemed to be waiting for something from her.

Slowly, a smile crossed Taylor's face. "I'm…a Parahuman?"

 **So this, in case you missed it somehow, is from Heroman, a manga/anime made by Stan Lee. I'll be giving a Power Rating in the next Chapter.**

 **Now, for all those who read my stories. I am glad to day that my stories Code Geass: the Prepared Rebellion, Issei: The Gaming Gear, Swordsaint, Zero no Tsukaima: Saito the Onmyōji, Ranma Saotome, Chi Master and After the Chamber: Lords and Ladies all have TV Tropes pages. This is a cause for celebration, but aside from the Prepared Rebellion, Chi Master and Onmyōji, the others have a somewhat less detailed list of tropes than I would expect. I would add to them myself, except I have no idea how to go about doing so. That being the case, if any of you wants to add tropes to them, you would have my gratitude.**


	92. Born Anew

**Born Anew**

I blinked. Something I should not have been able to do, as I had just been shot in the back of the head by Contessa with a goddamn Glock. One minute I'm waiting for the bliss of the end, the next minute, I'm here…wherever that is.

Somehow, and I have no idea how, I was able to look around three-hundred and sixty degrees without turning my head….or rather, if I had had a head to turn. I was now, somehow, a ball of light about the size of a soccer ball the colour of my old Skitter costume.

I wanted to panic, I felt it was the right reaction…but I couldn't. Literally, I could not panic. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned my ability to do anything more than think logically and stare around placidly off.

"My, my…you really are the curious one, Miss Hebert."

The voice that spoke up just now sounded more than slightly amused. It was also female, but not Contessa, or anyone else that I had met in my life.

"I should certainly hope not." the woman said with a chuckle. "Considering I haven't been to Earth Bet in my existence, that would be impossible. Ah, but where are my manners? I am…well, I suppose you could call me a 'Dimensional Supervisor' of sorts. I regulate the boundaries between the various Earths in order to ensure that nothing untoward happens; you know, worlds colliding, dimensional quakes and the like."

 _Sounds like a big job…and did you just read my mind?_

"Yes dear. I am a being on a higher level than Zion, so such paltry tricks such as mind reading are child's play for me to accomplish." The woman answered. "And I really should give you a name…oh dear, I haven't thought of one…let's see…yes, that will do fine. Call me…Yliaster. It isn't anything close to being my name, but it's the closest your language can get to it."

 _Okaaaayyy…so why have you brought me here? I was in the middle of dying, you know?_

"Fortuna never intended to kill you. The bullets she fired would have, and in fact did, lobotomize you. She removed your Agent using her **[Path to Victory]** as a guide." Yliaster corrected me gently. "I copied you the very instant after the lobotomy was completed and brought you up here to my higher dimension. Your original is living happily with your father right now."

 _I…am a copy. A mental clone?_

"I copied your body as well, but on this dimensional plane, there is no difference between the body and the spirit." The Dimensional Supervisor informed me. "I am also in the process of restoring your missing arm and healing the other wounds that you suffered in your battle with Zion. By the time we are finished, you should have a completely healthy body and spirit."

 _That's…nice, but why have you gone to all of this bother? I don't understand…_

"Your need for control is showing." Yliaster chuckled again. "Very well then, to the point. I was unable to interfere with Zion and Eden rampaged into Earth Bet, because _technically_ , they weren't breaking any laws that I had to enforce. I had to sit back and watch while the area under my jurisdiction was being infected and destroyed and could do _nothing_. Those inept idiots in Cauldron pawing about with Eden's corpse came back to bite them on the rear-end, as I foresaw that it would. I would have warned them, but except in the most drastic of situations, I am not permitted to intervene directly in the matters of a world.

"Yet you were able to defeat Zion. You suffered, you persevered and you did everything you could to achieve victory. Even although you knew that you would not be able to go back, even although the world would see you as a monster, as worse than Zion, you still did what had to be done. Even then, when any other would have given in to the encroachment of their Agent, you refused to let that happen and fled to an Earth barren of life, so none would be affected when your last shred of sanity faded."

I couldn't see her, but I somehow knew she was smiling at me.

"Such selfless dedication and such heartfelt sacrifice deserve the appropriate rewards. Yet, I could not do anything for your original." Yliaster continued. "It was Contessa's intended actions that gave me the idea to copy you and bring you to me. My reward for you is this: I am worshipped as a goddess on another world. I can transmigrate you there was one of my followers. You shall be born anew. I cannot tell you what you will be reborn as, but whatever species it may be will be sentient and not discriminated against, I can promise you that."

 _But…I was a villain. I hurt and killed people. I was…a monster, at the end._

"A villain…is a very negative way to look at it." The Dimensional Supervisor said gently. "Did you rob people? Yes. Did you hurt people? Yes. The people you robbed were insured and those you hurt were mostly criminals. Did you kill people? Yes, but the two most prominent ones, Coil and Alexandria, were guilty of far worse crimes than you. Did people die while you commanded them? Yes, but there was no other way, not with the egos involved. The world would have fallen had you not moved. For the greater good of all, you bore the burden of the **[Queen Administrator]** and its full, unrestricted strength. You did what no one else could do. You also saved me from being recalled for allowing my bailiwick to be destroyed. So please, accept my reward."

I really didn't know what to make of this situation. I had been a monster at the end, only barely able to flee to that dead version of Earth via Doormaker with an effort of supreme will. I wanted to believe that she had some kind of plan up her sleeve for me…but if Yliaster was as powerful as she made herself sound, she could have just reincarnated me without asking me.

Instead, she had brought me here and _asked_ me what I wanted. It had been so, so long since I had any option except to follow orders or to take the path of what would allow me to survive that I didn't know what to do. _What was the other choice if I said no?_

"I'd fuse you back with your original, which would regrow your arm." She answered. "You would have no memory of this conversation, and be suitably freaked out by suddenly having your arm regenerate out of nowhere."

I'll bet.

 _OK…what kind of world are we talking here?_

"The world is called 'Yggdrasil' and it is largely based on a more… _fantasy_ version of the Norse World Tree." Yliaster explained. "Unlike your world, which is one of technology and science, Yggdrasil is a world of magic. No parahumans or Entities, but also very few modern conveniences. You would have to work to get them. Also, Yggdrasil was created based on the idea of someone from man alternate version of Earth, so it's got a game interface, like an MMORPG."

… _eh?_

"Yes, it sounds silly, but it works." The D.S. said firmly. "With it, you can be anything you want, so long as you work for it…not something you are unfamiliar with or unable to do."

 _True…_

 _Well, what kind of races are there?_

"Almost every kind of race you can think of; humans, dwarves, elves, lizardmen…the works." Yliaster giggled. "A lot of them can be divvied up between 'Good' aligned raced, 'Evil' aligned races and 'Neutral' aligned races. Humans, as an example, are 'Lawful Neutral' aligned for the most part. Oh, races and people can also be 'Lawful' or 'Chaotic' in addition to the basic good/evil/neutral range. For example, in your original's case, I would say that she wavered between 'Lawful Evil' and 'Chaotic Good' with most of her actions. At the end, she was most certainly Neutral Good. At this moment, technically being a newborn and not of a race, you are 'Neutral' just so you know."

 _Sounds a lot like Dungeons and Dragons._

"The original Yggdrasil was based on it, so that's of little to no surprise." The Dimensional Supervisor answered. "Now, I _must_ get back to fixing those dratted dimensional holes that Zion ripped open in his madness, so I'm afraid I have to have your answer now."

 _Way to put me on the spot. Argh, OK! I'll reincarnate on Yggdrasil! It isn't as if I have anything else to do!_

"Lovely. Now, while I can't influence what race you can get, I can show you an example of what the screen looks like in Yggdrasil. **Console!** "

A page appeared in front of me.

\- **Status**

\- **Equipment**

\- **Skills**

\- **Spells**

\- **Commands**

"It operates using either verbal commands or by hand gestures. You'll know them once you get there." Yliaster said "Also, you have both Racial Levels and Job Class Levels that make up your Total Level. As you're being transmigrated rather than reincarnated, you will have to do a basic tutorial. This will let you learn about your new race, as well as choose your first Job Class, so you'll be Level Two in total. Oh yes, here…there. I've given you my blessing, so that will show up when you gain a separate material body and soul again. Good luck, Taylor Hebert. May your new life be one without trouble."

With that, the scenery faded and I blacked out.

When I came to, I was standing in a black room. Before I could do more than blink, a screen popped up in front of me.

 **[Welcome to Yggdrasil!]**

 **You have been selected to be transmigrated here by Lady Yliaster as a reward for services rendered!**

 **Race selection is complete! You are now a Level 1 Shadow Elf (Female)!**

 **Shadow Elf: A race of elves that, like the Drow and Dark Elves, makes their homes underground. Unlike the former, they do not worship the evil Spider Goddess Lolth, but unlike the latter, do not seek to mingle with their fellow elves. Isolationistic and shy in equal measures, they are also known as Deep Elves and Rockseer Elves. The latter title is due to their learned ability to communicate with the rocks around them and sometimes bend them to their will.**

 **In the main, however, Shadow Elves are masters of stealth in caves and at night. Their three natural affinities in magic are Shadow, Earth and Illusion, but there have been outliers. As far as weapons go, they share the same affinity for bows as their cousin elven races, but a fair portion of their population ends up as either mages or rogues, so staves, short swords and thrown knives are also in wide usage.**

 **Out of all of the elven races, Shadow Elves are the rarest in existence on Yggdrasil. Just about the only ones of the same rarity would be the Avariel, or Winged Elves.**

That…was a lot to process.

As I contemplated this, a mirror appeared in front of me and I saw my new appearance. Height-wise, I was a small amount taller than I had been before, which was nice. At least I wasn't shorter.

Everything else though… _that_ was hard to accept as being 'me' in any shape or form. My skin was very pale, almost translucent. As I was completely naked, I could confirm that I had no body-hair whatsoever, aside from the hair on my head. That hair was long, thick and silky and shone silver in the dim light shining from above. My eyes were ice-blue and were very intimidating to look at. As an elf, I had expected the ears to be…y'know, small and pointy like a Vulcan's from Star Trek, but they were actually a few inches long.

I twitched one of them and it looked weird. I then returned my attention to the screen.

 **As a Shadow Elf, you have gained a number of Racial Skills.**

 **[Shadow Walker I]: You gain a bonus to all [Stealth] skills when in shadows, caves or when outside at night or in the twilight. You also move silently in the same conditions.**

 **[Darkvision I]: You can see at night or in caves with no light as clearly as another elf can during the day.**

 **[Light Sensitive I]: Broad Daylight hurts your eyes. Try to avoid getting into fights when in the sun. Reduced chances to hit for all physical attacks while under the light of the midday sun. Twilight's OK though.**

 **[Caveborn I]: As a result of being born and growing up in underground caves, you have an unerring sense of direction and tunnel mapping ability. You can automatically tell which direction True North is and you can remember where you have been in relation to where you are. Only in caves though.**

 **[Elven Legacy]: As an elf, you have an automatic affinity with the bow. You gain skill in using the bow and any bow-related skills faster.**

 **[Shadowborn I]: You have the natural affinity for Shadow magic, enabling you to cast it even if you do not chose a magic using Job Class. As shadows and illusions have much in common, Illusion Magic is almost as easy for you to learn should you choose a magic using Job Class.**

 **A lot to take in, I know, but you can access it via your Console whenever you like.**

 **Now, it is assumed that you are tired of being naked, so some clothes will appear in front of you now, including underwear.**

Finally! I was wondering when I'd get something to wear! Although looking at my new body which, although svelte and lithe, also gave me boobs and a butt that made my original look like a child by comparison, was fun, I was getting a bit cold.

The clothes, when they appeared, were very basic. Bra, panties (surprised this world has them), loose leather trousers, a shirt and jacket and a hooded cape. No socks or shoes, which was odd.

 **Socks and shoes will be provided when you leave this tutorial space.**

 **Now for your Job Class selection.**

 **As a Shadow Elf, you have less physical strength than others, but make up for it with dexterity and agility. Listed below is your possible Job Classes. The level next to them is the highest that level can rise to. Choose carefully.**

\- **Ranger (LV15)**

\- **Rogue (LV15)**

\- **Shadow Warrior (Shadow Elf Only) (LV10)**

\- **Shadow Mage (LV15)**

\- **Shadowcaster (LV10**

\- **Archer (LV15)**

\- **Shadow Stalker (LV10)**

\- **Priestess of Shadows (LV10)**

Well, out of all of those, the one I am assuredly NOT going to go for is that dratted **[Shadow Stalker]** Class! Like I need a bit of Sophia Hess hanging around me in my new life!

I recognised the most common ones; Rangers were bowmen who could also dual-wield, Rogues were sneaky thieves who could use sneak attacks and Archers were exclusive bow users. It was the others I needed explanations for.

 **[Shadow Warrior]: A member of the Shadow Elf standing army. Trained in swords, spears and bows in equal measure, they are the open defenders of the Shadow Elves' underground cities.**

 **[Shadow Mage]: A Magic Caster that specializes in the use of Shadow Magic. Trained in the use of daggers and the staff as both a casting tool and as a weapon.**

 **[Shadowcaster]: A Magic Caster that draws its power from the Elemental Plane of Shadows. As opposed to spells, they learn 'mysteries' which basically have the same effect. Eventually, Shadowcasters no longer require to eat, breath or sleep and are immune to poison and disease. (Race Change to Demi-Shadow Being)**

 **[Shadow Stalker]: An assassin who uses shadow magic to conceal themselves and attack. Often freelance agents; some are retained by the Shadow Elven leaders as counter-assassins on a permanent basis. Trained in throwing knives, short swords, hand crossbows and poisons.**

 **[Priestess of Shadows]: A priestess of an unknown Goddess of Shadows. Able to use her connection to her goddess to use divine magic. Trained in knives and short swords.**

Out of all of them, **[Shadow Stalker]** and **[Priestess of Shadows]** appealed the least to me. I did not like the name or style of the former, and I didn't like relying on a deity (even one as nice as Yliaster) for my powers, which ruled out the second.

The **[Shadowcaster]** class was interesting, but it freaked me out that it would change me if I maxed out the class. Thank you but no; one change in races was enough for one lifetime.

While the three 'basic classes' sounded _alright_ , I wanted to go with something else for my first class. As a kid, I had always wanted to be like one of the Triumvirate. Even although I had killed one of them and disgraced the other two, some of that childish admiration remained. The closest approximation to any of them on this list was…

"I choose **[Shadow Mage]**." I stated confidently.

 **[Shadow Mage] Job Class Selected!**

 **You gain the following Skills and Spells:**

 **Skill: [Shadow Heal I]**

 **Skill: [Shadow Affinity II]**

 **Skill: [Shadow Aura I]**

 **Skill: [Staff Mastery (Close Combat) I]**

 **Skill: [Staff Mastery (Magic Channeling) I]**

 **Skill: [Dagger Mastery I]**

 **Spell: [Shadow Daggers] (Tier 1)**

 **Spell: [Shadow Cloak] (Tier 1)**

 **Spell: [Shadow Bolt] (Tier 1)**

 **Spell: [Summon: Steed of Shadows] (Tier 1)**

 **Spell: [Shadow Strangle] (Tier 1)**

 **Skill: [Blessing of Yliaster II]**

The last one was what caught my eye. She had said that she had blessed me, but I hadn't seen any sign of it until now. I reached out and touched it to see what it did.

 **[Blessing of Yliaster II]**

 **You have been blessed by the mysterious Goddess of Shadows, Dimensions and Illusions, Yliaster. Every level of this skill improves your proficiency with any spell or skill that is from any one of those fields by 10% for every level of this skill. Unlike other skills, this one is not raise by increasing a Job Class Level or Racial Levels. It is raised by how many separate Racial Classes and Job Classes that you have that are from areas under her jurisdiction. Current Number of Relevant Classes: 2. Current Bonus to Shadow, Illusion and Dimension Magic and Skills: 20%.**

That is an incredible boost to the strength of my spells, the Shadow ones anyway. Wonder how many spells I can have anyway?

 **At the normal maximum Total Level of 100, the normal amount of spells one can normally have is 300. Rare skills and rituals can increase that, but normally they are all necromantic, dark or evil in nature. It is rumoured that in the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil that there exists a trial that can allow the challenger to go beyond that limit, known as the Limit Breaker Ritual. It has been literal ages since anyone has undergone the ritual, but rumours persist of at least doubling the number of spells that you have at your command.**

Wow. Three- _hundred_ spells? And I already had five. All of them looked pretty good too.

 **[Shadow Daggers] (Tier 1)**

 **The caster fires a hail of small bolts of shadows at the enemy. Individually weak, but it can be spammed for maximum effect and minimum MP expenditure.**

 **Effect: Fires 4-8 Shadow Dagger Bolts at a single enemy (5-10 Shadow Damage per bolt).**

 **Range: Close-Mid Range**

 **Cost: 15 (25) MP**

 **[Shadow Cloak] (Tier 1)**

 **The caster wraps the target in shadows, hiding them from sight. A good way to make something stand out in a bright area, or to conceal someone or something in twilight, darkness or shadows.**

 **Effect: Shrouds a human-sized target in shadows.**

 **Range: All**

 **Cost 20 (30) MP**

 **[Shadow Bolt] (Tier 1)**

 **The caster unleashes a large bolt of pure shadow at the target. Carrying with it the chill of the Plane of Shadows, this spell has the bonus effect of slowing down the target temporarily due to the unearthly chill sapping their strength.**

 **Effect (s): 1) Fires a single large bolt of shadows at a single target (50 Shadow Damage on impact plus 10 Cold Damage).**

 **2) Upon being struck, the target is affected by [Slow] for thirty seconds. Ineffective on Undead, golems or anything that is either not alive or has any form of [Cold Resistance].**

 **Range: Mid-Long**

 **Cost: 35 (45) MP**

 **[Summon: Steed of Shadows] (Tier 1)**

 **The caster summons forth one of the Shadow Plane's Ebon Steeds to serve as their mount. It manifests from the caster's own shadow and is used to transport them up to a certain distance away before dispelling. Cannot attack.**

 **Effect: Summons an Ebon Steed from the Shadow Plane. Carries the caster up to fifty yards away before dispelling.**

 **Range: Self. If targeted on another person, Close Range.**

 **Cost: 40 (50) MP**

 **[Shadow Strangle] (Tier 1)**

 **The caster causes the target's shadow to wind around their throat and throttle them. It may not be a powerful attack, but almost no living being can fail to react when they are getting throttled, so it is a good way to distract an enemy at a critical moment.**

 **Effect: Target's a single enemy and makes their own shadow strangle them for thirty seconds (10/sec DOT). Has the secondary effect of [Skill Interrupt]. Ineffective on Undead and anything that does not require to breathe.**

 **Range: Close Range**

 **Cost: 20 (30) MP**

They may not be the strongest spells, but they were versatile. I could think of more than a few ways to use them. Just about the biggest weakness was that there was almost certainly to be undead in Yggdrasil, judging by some of the spell descriptions, and my magic didn't seem to be all that effective against them, with **[Shadow Strangle]** being completely useless against them.

Making a note to learn some spells to offset that weakness in the future, I returned my attention to the screen before me.

 **This ends the basic tutorial. As you have been transmigrated here by Lady Yliaster, you may, if you so choose, take the advanced Tutorial. This will introduce combat mechanics and earn you come basic gear, as well as possibly levelling you up.**

 **Do you wish to take the Advanced Tutorial?**

"Yes."

There wasn't any hesitation as I spoke. Unlike with my Parahuman powers, I was being offered a chance to learn about how to use my new powers as a Shadow Mage. Like _hell_ I was going to pass over this chance.

 **Socks and shoes have been provided. Once you have equipped them, you will be warped to the Advanced Tutorial Chambers ten seconds later.**

The socks were easy to put on and comfortable, and the shoes, boots rather, were comfortable as well. How did they know my sizes?

I put the thought out of my mind. I had more important things to think about.

In a flash, I vanished from the dark room, which stood silent and empty once again.

 **So this is something I've been thinking on for a while; a Worm/Overlord crossover. Now you all might remember the 'Dungeon Core' Taylor series of ficlets I did a while back? This starts from the same Taylor. Even as Titania grabs the Agent-memory copy of Taylor, Yliaster creates a mental and physical clone of Taylor in her higher dimension.**


	93. Born Anew Chapter 2

**Born Anew Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

" _Now_ where am I?" I muttered. Looking around, I found myself in a room not too dissimilar to the one I had just left, except for the fact that it had various paintings floating around the room, featuring various robes, staves, daggers and the like.

OK, so I had to choose one set of equipment here to be my starting equipment? Fair enough. I was about to step forward when a screen appeared in front of me.

 **[Welcome to the Advanced Tutorial Space!]**

 **As you have determined, in this particular room, you have to select one set of equipment as starter gear. As you have been transmigrated by Lady Yliaster, we are obliged and proud to offer you a set of equipment especially designed for a [Shadow Mage] who has Lady Yliaster's blessing. As you are also a Shadow Elf, it will be even more effective!**

 **Additionally, the staff and dagger that you receive in this equipment set are 'scaling' pieces of equipment. This means that as you become stronger, so shall they, although the dagger stops evolving at your Total Level of 40.**

 **Do you wish to view the [Shadow Garb of Yliaster]?**

"Yes!" I said, somewhat excitedly. If this stuff was designed with Yliaster's blessing in mind, it could be that they had some kinda super-awesome effect!

A silver-framed painting floated towards me. The equipment on it flashed and then it was filled with a figure that looked just like my new body. There was a full-body robe, a half-face mask that covered the lower portion of the face; armguards that included fingerless gloves, boots that looked very form fitting and a hooded cape. All of it was midnight black with silver trim, as well as possessing a silver symbol embossed into certain areas such as the back of the gloves, the chest of the robes and the back of the cape.

The weapons the figure was wielding were then next thing to catch my attention.

The staff was made of a dark brown wood, with metal wound around it in intricate knots and lattices, making it look as if the wood was being imprisoned by the metal. At either end was a pair of hoops that had a single ball of metal floating in them.

The dagger was about eight inches long, including the hilt, and was slightly curved, showing that most damage it dealt was with slashing. It was a silvery colour and had its hilt wrapped in red leather.

All in all, it looked really cool.

I reached out and touched it, causing a screen to pop up displaying a list.

 **[Shadow Garb of Yliaster]**

 **\- Shadow Robe of Yliaster (High)**

 **\- Shadow Mask of Yliaster (High)**

 **\- Shadow Bracers of Yliaster (High)**

 **\- Shadow Boots of Yliaster (High)**

 **\- Shadow Cowl of Yliaster (High)**

 **\- Black Staff of Yliaster's Shadow (High, Scalable)**

 **\- Silver Athame of Yliaster (High, Scalable)**

Very unimaginative naming sense other than the weapons. What does the 'High' after all of the equipment mean, I wonder…? I found out after touching one of them, causing another mini-window to pop up.

 **[Equipment Levels]**

 **All equipment in Yggdrasil is rated depending on several factors; the purity and rarity of the materials used to make it, the effects of the tools/equipment used to make it, the skill of the craftsman who made it and so on.**

 **There are eleven classes of equipment. In order from lowest to highest, with an example of why that might be, they are:**

 **\- Low (Made by an unskilled artisan)**

 **\- Medium (Made by an average artisan)**

 **\- High (Made by a skilled artisan)**

 **\- Top Class (Made by the very best a highly skilled artisan can accomplish with the highest grade of regular materials and no special tools or equipment)**

 **\- Legacy (Made by the best efforts of a highly skilled artisan with magical tools and magical ingredients)**

 **\- Relic (Made by the efforts of a supremely skilled artisan with powerful magical tools and modestly powerful magical ingredients)**

 **\- Legendary (Made by the efforts of a supremely skilled artisan with the best magical tools available and high-quality magical ingredients)**

 **\- Divine/Guild (Made by the efforts of a legendary artisan who uses divine-wrought equipment and the highest-grade of magical ingredients)**

 **\- World Champion (Made at the behest of one of the Gods for their champion by a demigod using divine tools and equipment and divine materials)**

 **\- World (Created by the death of a world by a God)**

 **\- (Artefact) (Created by the will of the nine remaining worlds of Yggdrasil, the general power of an artefact-class item is generally between Low and High class items, but some have even been Relic Class)**

 **Generally speaking, most Starter Equipment is randomly chosen between Low and High level equipment, but Lady Yliaster's Starter Equipment is all solidly High-Class Equipment.**

Wow. OK, I was _so_ taking this stuff. "I accept the **[Shadow Garb of Yliaster]** as my Starting Equipment."

I received a pop-up telling me that it had been deposited into my inventory, or 'Item Box' as it was called.

 **[Item Boxes and You]**

 **By the blessing of ALL of the Gods, every person who choses at least one Combat Job Class in Yggdrasil is granted a personal Item Box. No one other than you can access your Box unless some pretty rare Job Classes ([Master Thief], [Dimension Mage]) are used or some very rare items ([Hand of the Thief]) are used.**

 **Each basic Item Box can hold any number of items of any size that weigh a combined total of 500kg. There are a number of Quests that you can complete in order to increase the weight threshold of your Item Box. See the temple of your patron deity for details.**

Five HUNDRED kilograms?! That was a _lot_ to just give out willy-nilly. Then again, a lot of people would mostly go the warrior route and thus be limited by their heavy equipment, so that seemed fair. The magic using professions must really take advantage…oh good. Another cheat for me to use.

Following the instructions, I opened my **[Console]** and opened my equipment section. The clothes and stuff I was wearing right now were absolutely normal stuff made out of cotton or tanned leather. Good, serviceable stuff, but not for combat. More like for a light walk around the town.

My new combat gear though…

 **[Shadow Robe of Yliaster] (High-Class Item)**

 **Blessed by the Goddess Yliaster, this robe grants a minor enhancement to [Shadow] magic/skills and reduces damage taken from both [Shadow] and [Light] Magic/Skills.**

 **Physical Defence: +15**

 **Magical Defence: +25**

 **\- Grants +5 to the effectiveness of all [Shadow] magic and skills.**

 **\- Reduces any and all damage taken from both [Shadow] and [Light] Magic/Skills by 5%.**

 **[Shadow Mask of Yliaster] (High-Class Item)**

 **Blessed by the Goddess Yliaster, this facemask grants the wearer with increased stealth capabilities. It is also said to be especially for Shadow Elves.**

 **Physical Defence: +5**

 **Magical Defence: +5**

 **\- Increases the effect of all stealth related skills by 5%.**

 **\- If worn by a Shadow Elf, all Shadow Elf Racial Skills are increased by 5%.**

 **[Shadow Bracers of Yliaster] (High-Class Item)**

 **Blessed by the Goddess Yliaster, these Bracers shroud the wearer's arms in shadow, making it difficult to read their movements.**

 **Physical Defence: +10**

 **Magical Defence: +15**

 **\- Shadow Shroud: reduces the effectiveness of any enemy skill to increase chances to block wearer's physical attack by 5%. Increases chance of wearer's physical attacks striking the enemy by 5%.**

 **[Shadow Boots of Yliaster] (High-Class Item)**

 **Blessed by the Goddess Yliaster, these boots allow the wearer to step as silently as a moonless night, even when out of the shadows. Shadow Elf Only.**

 **Physical Defence: +15**

 **Magical Defence: +10**

 **\- Shadow Step: Increases the effectiveness of the Shadow Elf Racial Skill [Shadow Walker] by 10% and also allows it to be used away from caves, twilight and the shadows.**

 **[Shadow Cowl of Yliaster] (High Class Item)**

 **Blessed by the Goddess Yliaster, this hooded cape shrouds the wearer in shadows, making ranged non-magical attacks less accurate. There is also a chance to negate ranged non-magical attacks.**

 **Physical Defence: +5**

 **Magical Defence: +20**

 **\- Shadow Shroud: Reduces the accuracy of all non-magical attacks attempting to strike the wearer by 10%.**

 **\- Shadow Void: 5% chance to become insubstantial when struck by a non-magical attack.**

 **[Black Staff of Yliaster's Shadow] (High-Class Item) {Scaling}**

 **Said to contain a small fraction of Yliaster's own shadow in the two metal orbs hovering on either end of it, this type of staff has been the weapon for all Magic Caster champions of Yliaster down through the ages.**

 **Physical Attack: +30 (Blunt)**

 **Magical Attack: +40**

 **\- Increases all damage dealt via [Shadow Magic] by 10%.**

 **\- Once per day can cast any Tier 5 or lower Shadow Spell for free.**

 **\- Reduces the MP cost of all Shadow Spells of Tier 3 or lower by 5.**

 **\- Gains additional or improved abilities as the owner becomes stronger.**

 **[Silver Athame of Yliaster] (High Class Item) {Limited Scaling}**

 **Even in shadow, there is light. Containing a shard of shadow light, a type of light that is anathema to beings of true Light, it is the best weapon to use against them, as well as those of Darkness, as shadow light is still light of a sort.**

 **Physical Attack: +15 (Slashing, Piercing)**

 **Magical Attack: +25**

 **\- Deals increased damage to beings of both [Light] and [Darkness] by 10%.**

 **\- Shadow Light Magic Burst: Randomly casts a spell from the Shadow Light Magic List that is Tier 3 or under, once per day.**

 **\- Gains additional or improved abilities as the user becomes stronger, capped at Total Level 40.**

…yeah, let's just say that it's badass. Equipping it all was such a rush! It beat any kind of sugar rush I'd had as a kid back on Earth Bet (not that I'd had many; Mom and Dad had always kept me as far away from things with too much sugar in them as they could aside from special treats).

 **[Proceed through the door for the next part of the tutorial]**

Grasping my new staff in my hand, I walked almost soundlessly to the wooden door that had appeared on one side of the room. The Athame (a type of ritual dagger) was sheathed at my waist, so I could draw it whenever I needed it, although I had to wonder if I still got the weapon's attack bonuses if it wasn't drawn?

Strangely enough, whenever I entered a shadow, the liver trim and symbols on my costume…er, _outfit_ vanished. I suspected that it was a part of the whole 'Shadow Elf Stealth in the shadows' thing.

The room I entered had several target dummies scattered all over the place. I was obviously supposed to train in using my weapons here. Why were the targets so scattered though?

 **[Training your Class Levels]**

 **Unlike in most RPG games you may have played before, the levelling system in Yggdrasil works slightly differently. Each of your classes level up differently. Your JOB Classes level up as you use their skills. In your case, using Shadow Spells and attacking with your dagger and staff will level that part of you up. On the other hand, defeating monsters and members of other races will level up your RACIAL Classes, making your Shadow Elf abilities stronger. Of course the Job Class that you use a skill from gets some EXP as well when it defeats an enemy.**

 **In this room, there are various target dummies. Practice your weapons skills first. Be warned that any experience you may have from your previous world with these weapons is locked until you reach a higher level. On the bright side, you will automatically know how to use the weapons at a basic level as soon as you draw them and decide to use them.**

Good to know. I had been OK with knives back on Earth Bet, but they hadn't been my go-to weapons unless close combat was forced on me by a dangerous Cape. I wasn't afraid to get up close and personal, but when dealing with an enemy that could break me in half with their little finger, using a swarm was the way to go.

Such as with Alexandria.

Shaking myself out of my tangent, I decided to start with my staff, a weapon I had no experience with on Earth Bet. Walking over to the nearest dummy, I assumed a stance and thought, _attack_.

Immediately, I smacked the side of the vaguely humanoid dummy right where the kidneys would be on a human with my staff. The _thunk_ of impact was very satisfying for some reason. Over the next few minutes, I experimented with my primary weapon to find out precisely what I could and could not do with it. Basic swipes and jabs were just about the limit of my abilities with it, although I guessed I could also block with it.

Switching over to my Athame, I found that it was much the same with it. Slashing and stabbing, the basics of the basics. After I became comfortable with using my knife, a pop up appeared.

 **[Magic]**

 **Now that you are suitably comfortable with physical attacks, you should now move on to magic.**

 **Unlike with RPG games, you ARE your 'character' this time, so using magic by opening a menu doesn't work. Well…you CAN do it; it just doesn't work well in combat.**

 **Reach out and feel for your new power. You should be able to get a grasp of how much MP you have left and what spells you have at your command. Invoke your spells out loud by focusing on your target and linking the spell you wish to cast to your MP mentally.**

OK…that's a bit more metaphysical than I expected, but whatever. Choosing a target dummy about five meters away, I raised my staff and pointed at it, focusing on the spell I wanted to cast.

" **[Shadow Bolt]!** " I stated as I mentally pushed the name of my spell into my MP.

 **MP: 170/200**

A large arrow of shadows emerged from the tip of my staff and shot towards the dummy, engulfing it for a moment. When the spell ended, I could see a slight coating of frost on the dummy. It looked cool, but with my limited pool of MP, I was better off saving it for decisive blows.

Raising my hand this time, I said, " **[Shadow Daggers]!** "

 **MP: 160/200**

Shooting from my hand, a bunch of small bolts of shadows, each about the same length as a butter knife, slammed into the dummy. Yup. With the reduced MP cost and upped damage thanks to my equipment, this was going to be my go-to spell until my MP Pool became larger.

Again using my hand, I cast my last offensive spell. " **[Shadow Strangle]!** "

 **MP: 145/200**

The shadow of the dummy twisted up and wrapped around the neck of the dummy in a trice. I honestly didn't think anybody could react in time to stop it, especially as it looked as if the shadow noose was insubstantial until it was wrapped around the target's neck. Scary!

The last two spells were what I'd call supplementary, not being able to directly interfere in combat offensively or defensively. When I cast **[Shadow Cloak]** on a dummy, it was like a giant flame of shadows erupted around it, albeit one that caused no damage whatsoever. There was, fortunately enough, a dummy with legs so I could try out **[Summon: Steed of Shadows]**. The horse, when it came, was gorgeous and made any picture of _Black Beauty_ look pathetic by comparison. It galloped on mid-air to carry the dummy over to the other side of the room before sinking back into the shadows.

I was going to have to look into getting one of those as more than just a temporary spell summon.

 **[Well Done!]**

 **You have successfully used all of your spells! MP fully restored!**

 **Please proceed to the next room for live combat training.**

Live combat training? That sounds ominous. It was nice that my MP is back up to max though.

The door was the same as the previous one, but when I stepped through it this time, I found myself in a cave with rock pillars dispersed somewhat evenly across the whole room. I couldn't see the other end of the room, even with my **[Darkvision]** skill. Well it was only **[Darkvision I]** , so it was understandable…

 **[Hunt the Monsters]**

 **In this room, the very last portion of the Advanced Tutorial, you are to hunt down and slay ten monsters that have been released into it. All of them are Hobgoblins, a strong type of goblin that is still well within your capabilities to kill. Once they are defeated, you will have a boss encounter and face their leader. Win in order to earn fabulous prizes!**

Oh joy. A teammate back when I had been a member of the Philadelphia Wards had been a big D&D fan and used to talk nineteen to the dozen about the various monsters, with hobgoblins being a favourite, along with bugbears.

"In for a penny…" I muttered and readied my staff before entering the maze of stone pillars. This activated my **[Shadow Walker]** skill automatically and I faded into the shadows. That might not be enough though, as I vaguely remembered that some version of goblinoids also had some version of **[Darkvision]** , although I couldn't remember if Hobgoblins were one of them.

I froze when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Then, out of the edge of where my **[Darkvision]** cut out, a Hobgoblin appeared. It was about four feet tall, wore a filthy loincloth and had a crude-looking bronze sword grasped in one hand. It also smelled like a sewer. This sucked because I apparently had a rather sensitive sense of smell.

" **[Shadow Strangle]** " I muttered, waving my hand at the goblin as it shuffled down the corridor of stone pillars. Just like in the practice, the Hobgoblin's neck was surrounded by its shadow before it could do anything about it and then it was choking as the shadow became corporeal and tightened.

" **[Shadow Daggers]!** "

The flurry of shadow bolts slammed into the Hobgoblin, three in its chest, one in its shoulder and on in its neck. All of that, thanks to the +5 Damage ability of my robe and the +10% Damage ability of my staff, meant that my two spells were enough to kill the beast, which collapsed to the ground and then dissolved into particles of light, leaving behind…a pile of coins and a filled vial?

 **[Woot: Wonderful Loot!]**

 **Defeating enemies not only earns you experience points for your Racial and Job Classes; doing so also lets you earn money and items. Generally speaking, the rarer and more powerful the monster, the rarer and better the items it drops are. This Hobgoblin, just for example, dropped ten silver pieces and a [Lesser Health Potion] vial. Not exactly fantastic, but something's better than nothing, right?**

Indeed it was, especially since the only healing ability I seemed to have was that **[Shadow Heal]** skill, which was a slow regen skill.

Picking up the coins and vial, I then placed them into my Item Box (thank you convenient tutorial pop-up) started searching out the other Hobgoblins. I took down the next one simply with two **[Shadow Daggers]** to the face, and decided to save my MP by keeping on doing that. The loot I got rapidly grew with every kill; by the time the last Hobgoblin died, I had seventy silver pieces, twenty copper, five [Lesser Health Potions], three [Lesser MP Potions] and a [Lesser Ring of Agility].

 **[About Rings and other Accessories]**

 **Sometimes regular equipment is not enough to defeat your foes. When that happens, use your Accessory slots! These are areas on your body that are not equipment slots and can have magical items equipped to give you stat boosts and other magical effects.**

 **Sadly, there is a limit, imposed by the gods, that only a very few can be equipped at a time.**

 **\- Rings: One Magic Ring per hand. You can wear as many ordinary, non-magical rings as you want, although if they aren't magical, why would you bother?**

 **\- Necklaces: One Necklace.**

 **\- Belt: Yes, a belt counts as an accessory. One Belt. Some come with slots for magical equipment and pouches.**

 **\- Circlet: One Circlet. You cannot wear a helmet if you wear a circlet and vice-versa.**

That was useful. The ring only added three points to my Agility stat, which wasn't a surprise considering it was a Low-Rank Magic Ring, but hey, any enhancement where there was none, right?

A rumbling sound around me put me on edge. I saw that the rock pillars were retracting into the ground, so I backed up and got out of them before whatever happened took me by surprise. A good thing too, as once the pillars were all down, a larger version of a hobgoblin landed in the middle, close to where I had been when the pillars started to retract.

Unlike the cannon fodder, _this_ Hobgoblin wasn't running around in his skivvies. It wore a solid set of copper armour, including a pot helmet, and carried a short sword and shield in its hands. It was still barefoot though.

The Boss Hobgoblin, as I had dubbed it in my mind, snarled and looked around, spotting me instantly. Looks like it has some sort of shadow-sight, unlike its minions.

" **[Shadow Strangle]!** " I shouted, deciding that whispering was pointless if he could pierce my stealth. The spell worked as before, but unlike with the minions, the Boss was not distracted by the strangulation spell. Props for having tough neck muscles, anyway.

I fired a couple of **[Shadow Daggers]** at it, but most bounced off the armour, making my eyes narrow at it. Some sort of magic resistance effect, perhaps? Let's see how it deals with something with a bit more _oomph_ to it.

" **[Shadow Bolt]!** " I shouted, pointing my staff at it. The most powerful offensive spell I had at my disposal lashed out and struck the Hobgoblin like a spear, sending it staggering back as the shadows wrapped around it and left the chill of the Plain of Shadows on it.

Abandoning my spells, I charged forwards as soon as the **[Shadow Bolt]** had ended. Yes, mages were squishy, but in this particular battle, it looked as if my weakest and least expensive spell was somehow being blocked, and I had no idea what would happen to my mind if my MP was totally drained. I would try to cut this guy down to size up close and personal while saving my MP for a finishing blow.

The sluggishness of **[Shadow Bolt's]** chilling effect seemed to wear off after I crossed three-quarters of the way to him. All praise the AGI+3 Ring! The Hobgoblin didn't look happy at being strangled, blasted with solidified shadows and frozen, all in the space of a minute, not that I could blame it, but hey, it was in the way!

With a screeching howl, it started to counter-charge me, the short sword drawn back and practically screaming the little monster's intent to perform a powerful vertical cut as soon as it came within range of me.

Well good luck. I had no intentions of allowing it to do that. As soon as it came within my striking range, I sent out a quick jab at its head that left it reeling on impact. I followed up with a couple more jabs, and then a horizontal swipe across its face that sent it staggering back, clutching its now _very_ broken nose.

Not one to be daunted by serious damage, the Hobgoblin Boss roared in fury and tried to impale me with its sword. Dodging to one side, I jabbed it in the gut, denting the armour before hissing in surprise and slight pain as the shield clipped me on the hip.

OW! Could shields even be used like that?!

Irritated that I let myself get hit, I started a relentless beat-down of the Hobgoblin Boss, culminating in me blasting its head off with **[Shadow Bolt]**. As the headless corpse of the goblinoid fell to the ground, I leaned on my staff, drained, before reaching into my Item Box and drawing out a **[Lesser Health Potion]** , chugging it. The stuff tasted a bit like raspberry cordial.

The body of the Boss dissolved, leaving five golden coins, a necklace and a tiara-like object. There was also a scroll wrapped in a red ribbon.

 **[Combat Report]**

 **Minions Slain: Hobgoblin Savages X10**

 **Boss Slain: Hobgoblin Savage Pack Leader X1**

 **Boss Loot: Gold Pieces X5, [Necklace of Warding], [Diadem of Insight], [Tutelary Scroll: Message]**

 **Congratulations! Your Racial Class Level has gone up by 1! You are now a Level 2 Shadow Elf!**

 **Skill: [Darkvision 1] is now [Darkvision II]!**

 **Skill: [Shadow Walker I] is now [Shadow Walker II]!**

 **Congratulations! Your Job Class Level has gone up by 1! You are now a Level 2 [Shadow Mage]!**

 **Skill: [Shadow Aura I] is now [Shadow Aura II]!**

 **Skill: [Shadow Heal I] is now [Shadow Heal II]!**

 **Skill: [Staff Mastery (Channeling) I] is now [Staff Mastery (Channeling) II]!**

 **Skill: [Staff Mastery (Close Combat) I] is now [Staff Mastery (Close Combat) II]!**

 **Skill Learned: [Stave Swipe]!**

 **Skill Learned: [Stave Rush]!**

Whoa…I literally FELT the rush of leveling up go through me there. Whoo!

Shaking my head as I recovered, I noticed another window pop up.

 **[Magic Items]**

 **As you saw there, the Hobgoblin Savage Pack Leader was able to negate your [Shadow Daggers] spell. This is because of the armour it was wearing that negated the effect of any spell that caused 20 or less damage to it, not counting Damage Over Time spells such as [Shadow Strangle]. There are numerous different magic items and creatures with similar effects, with the most famous being the Skeletal Dragon, which can negate all magic of the Sixth Tier or below, making it a nightmare for any Magic Caster to fight. This is why it is to your advantage to learn as many spells of various ranks as is possible.**

Yikes. I'd better find out how to learn spells…

 **[End of Tutorial]**

 **Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Advanced Tutorial! As this counts as your first quest, so to speak, you are granted the following rewards:**

 **\- 20 Silver Pieces**

 **\- [Tutelary Scroll: Create Item]**

 **\- [Lesser Ring of Magic Destruction]**

 **\- New Quest! See the 'Quest' section of your Console for details.**

 **You will now be warped to the Temple of Yliaster. Good luck, Chosen of Yliaster.**

"Wait, what's that about-?" I started to say, before I was surrounded in light.

 **Doing this is harder than I'd thought. So little information about the game Yggdrasil's mechanics, aside from how items and magic work, along with a few other things, is given that it's literally me pulling ideas out of my head to plug the gaps.**


	94. Born Anew Chapter 3

**Born Anew Chapter Three (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

"Stupid Goddesses." I muttered as I made my way through the swamp. Yes, I was in a goddamn swamp. Apparently, that's what made up about 90% of Niflheim, one of the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil. "Stupid quests. Stupid temple."

Although I was _supposed_ to be teleported straight to Yliaster's temple, one thing that Yliaster hadn't told me was that she was an overthrown goddess. Meaning that the worship of her was forbidden by the priesthood of the _new_ Yggdrasilian God of Shadows, Myriad of the Ten-Thousand Shades. All of Yliaster's temples had been razed to the ground except for the main one, which was hidden away and blocked people from just teleporting in.

What that meant was that I had bounced off the anti-teleportation shield and been randomly sent to one of the Nine Worlds, Niflheim. This was, according to my knowledge of Norse mythology, supposed to be a world where the Goddess Hel reigned supreme, her kingdom of ice and cold where the dishonored dead, those who did not die in battle, were her subjects.

In Yggdrasil, it turns out that Hel only reigned over Helheim, the deepest and coldest section of Niflheim. Good news, right? _Wrong_. The rest of Niflheim was covered in poisonous swamps filled with dark beasts and where inhuman beings resided in temples, tombs and other dark places. The Realm of Ice and Cold is not where I wanted to be. Where I _needed_ to go was the Realm of Darkness and Shadows, Svartálfaheimr. That was the homeland of the Dark Elves, Shadow Elves and Drow, and also the place where any clues as to the location of Yliaster's hidden temple might be.

I was lucky that this place was naturally somewhere where the sun shone only in twilight, so my poor light-sensitive eyes weren't hurt by the accursed orb. Hell, I could see perfectly well in the darkness, but the twilight was just a bit too much. I was not looking forward to seeing what the actual sun was like.

Anyway, once I was recovered from the damned teleport redirection (it had felt worse than the time I'd gotten food poisoning and the flu at the same time), I had assessed the situation and promptly started swearing like a dockworker. One I had given full vent to my spleen for a while, I had calmed down and taken stock of the goodies the Hobgoblin Savage Pack Leader had left me.

 **[Necklace of Warding] (Mid Class)**

 **A rather generic magic necklace mass-produced to offer some form of protection from weak magic spells. Often worn by those who do not expect to face a Magic Caster, but take some degree of precaution just in case.**

 **\- Reduces damage from Tier 3 or lower spells by 5.**

 **[Diadem of Insight] (Mid Class)**

 **A somewhat useful magic item that clears the wearer's mind and allows them to see things they had not considered before, raising their intelligence. Also has some minor defensive ability.**

 **Physical Defence: +5**

 **Magical Defence: +10**

 **\- Raises wearer's intelligence by 10.**

 **[Lesser Ring of Magic Destruction] (High)**

 **A ring created by an angry man who wished to get revenge on a Magic Caster. This was merely a prototype of his final product, but it is a potent weapon when facing a Magic Caster.**

 **\- Lesser Magic Destruction: Once Per Day: Negate any Tier Two or lower Spell in play or has been cast against you.**

OK, so they weren't top-tier stuff, but any port in a storm, right? I'd done more with less before. Much less.

I'd also gotten a couple of spells.

 **[Message] (Tier -)**

 **A standard spell given to all who defeat the Boss of the Advanced Tutorial. Not on the Tiers of spells, it is considered a hallmark of a God's Champion. It allows the user to instantly contact someone they know the facial appearance of telepathically within 10KM of them. Costs 10 MP/Minute.**

 **[Create Item] (Tier 3)**

 **A basic spell that allows the user to create items using their imagination. The larger the item, the more MP it will cost to create it. In addition, if weapons or armour are created with his skill, there is only ¼ of the usual penalty to equipping out-of-Class equipment.**

Pretty useful. I had to wonder if some of the weapons I had seen and used back on Earth Bet could be used here…

Anyway, I had also estimated my own combat abilities. By the PRT's Threat Assessment system, I was a Blaster 2 or 3, a Shaker 1 and a Mover 3 when purely talking about my spells. I could add in Thinker 2 for my enhanced senses and maybe another half-point for my better reflexes to my Mover section. With my skills in close combat, that would be Striker 2 as well. I'd be a regular grab-bag Cape with this list of skills.

And I was still fairly weak! Only a Total Level of 4!

Unfortunately, that worked against me here, along with my limited pool of spells. A lot of the monsters in Niflheim were either in the Fifties or they were low rank horde-type undead; skeletons, and the like. They were weak as hell, but where there was one; there was usually a hundred other piles of bones hiding under the swamp's surface.

Thankfully, I was mostly out of the powerful monster territory. One of the times I hadn't been able to stealth away from a strong monster, I had lead it into the territory of another beast and watched them rip each other to pieces as I ran like the dickens. I had received a reward for my 'cunning' and that was a map of Niflheim. It wasn't a very good map, as it had no scale and it did not have many landmarks on it. There were three main landmarks on it; one was the Gates of Helheim, where I had absolutely no intention of going. One was the only city in the entire world, situated next to the great well Hvergelmir, where I was heading to right now. The third was the entrance to the Bifröst.

In the mythology that I knew, the Bifröst only extended between Midgard and Asgard, but evidently, that wasn't true in this world. According to a pop up, the Bridge spanned all Nine of the Realms, but travel to Asgard and Vanaheimr was forbidden. If you went to Asgard, Heimdall would kill you with a single stroke of his sword Hǫfuð. If you went to Vanaheimr, you would be drowned.

Lovely people, these gods, aren't they?

Anyway, the Bifröst wasn't the only way to travel the worlds; I could, if I was an evil bastard, get the Corpse-Eating Dragon Nidhogg to fly me to another world. How about no? Another way was Ratatoskr, the squirrel who moved between worlds, acting as courier between Nidhogg and the unnamed eagle that lived at the top of the World Tree. Why the eagle was unnamed and the hawk that sits between the eagle's brow, Vedrfolnir, had one was something that had confused me since I'd read it.

As those two ways were unlikely, the only way to travel to Svartálfaheimr was the Bifröst. That was a pain, because the only way to open the gates was to offer up an Apple of Idun, one of the foods of the gods, to the Shrine of Týr. That would grant me a World Pass that allowed me free travel between the realms during my lifetime.

Again, it was a pain. The Apples of Idun were rarely given out by the gods, apparently, and they were especially rare in Niflheim, even more so than inside Muspelheim. Apparently the Goddess Idun travelled the realms, giving her apples to those who had performed heroic deeds as rewards. As a goddess of fertility though, realms of destruction like Muspelheim and worlds of cold like Niflheim were anathema to her, so she didn't visit unless she absolutely had to.

I had several options here, though I had to say that the best plan was to find someone who already had an Apple and steal it. Apples of Idun granted eternal youth to those who ate them, which was much appreciated in Midgard, the Human Realm, I would guess. To those who didn't age until they were in their seventh century like elves, they were symbols of their courage and daring.

I…hadn't quite internalized the fact that my lifespan was now more than seven times that of the oldest living human back on Earth Bet. More than that, elves didn't become dotards or senile, nor did they become any less spry towards the end of their lives. An elf who had lived for more than eight-hundred years would be just as dangerous as one in their twenties, more so because of their experience.

Sadly, I was far too weak to carry out that plan. So I had decided to hit some tombs in order to get experience, level up and maybe get some new gear or disposable items. At least I would once I was well away from the mass of Bloodhulks, triceratops knockoffs and Zombie Dragons that had made up most of the forest.

Seriously, of ALL the worlds to end up in, only Muspelheim, Asgard and Vanaheimr would have been worse. Maybe Jötunheimr too. My shadow magic was too weak against big critters and undead were all but immune to my **[Shadow Strangle]** spell. Not to mention the secondary effect of **[Shadow Bolt]**.

Looking around, I found myself in a clearing in the trees…not to mention actual solid ground rather than swamp sludge. I swear that the purple muck has poison in it. And it was hard to clean off my boots too.

"Huh…oh great…barrows." I muttered. Surrounding the small clearing were five or so great hills with stone cairns atop them. Each had an entrance that had once had a wooden or stone door sealing it shut. These had been smashed open…from the inside.

"Lovely. A barrel of barrows." I snorted. Well, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. I doubted that anything they had inside them was of the large and unkillable variety Unlike with the areas I had stumbled and run through before now, I didn't feel a great deal of pressure bearing down on me, so nothing here was more than ten levels stronger than me.

…

OK, ten levels was still pretty bad. Hopefully they'd be five levels stronger than me at most…I hope.

 _One Bout of Tomb Raiding and Five Barrows of Undead Later…_

"I hate my luck."

I was heading out from the little grove of barrows that I had conquered. It had been both hard and easy. It had been _hard_ to win because of the sheer number of undead I had faced.

The reason it had been easy was because, frankly, low-level undead like skeletons were very, very weak. In the barrows, each of which had been as big as an apartment building inside… _somehow_ , there had been four distinct types of undead for me to face. The basic Skeletons, which were BELOW Level 1. This meant that they were worthless as far as EXP was concerned. The Skeleton Warriors, armed with swords and shields. They had barely been Level 1. The Skeleton Archers (in a tomb? Why?!) armed with short bows. They had been Level 2. And finally, the Skeleton Mages, equipped with a staff and ratty robes. There had been four of those and they had been Level 3 to Level 4.

The boss of the five Barrows had been called Quintus of the Five Barrows, had been an Armoured Skeleton, equipped with a spear and shield. The spear had been magical; able to strike with negative energy, but that had been the most remarkable thing about Quintus. My **[Shadow Strangle]** Spell may have been useless to either deal damage or distract undead, but I had found that they literally couldn't move from their position once the spell was cast, so I essentially 'stun-locked' Quintus and blasted him with **[Shadow Daggers]** until he was dead…again.

And the end result? I hadn't levelled up. I had gotten useless items intended for either alchemy or necromancy and, just to top it off, the only worthwhile items from the boss had been a belt and another scroll so I could learn a spell, which I had done.

 **[Leather Belt] (Low)**

 **An ordinary belt made for keeping ones trousers up and ones robes secure. It isn't magical in the least, but it does take a hit well, raising your defence by 1.**

 **[Magic Arrow] (Tier 1)**

 **One of the most basic and broadly known spells in all of Yggdrasil. It fires an arrow of mana to pierce the target. Although generic, using the [Widen], [Delay], [Boost], [Extend], [Silent], [Over], [Penetrate], [Twin], [Triplet] and [Maximise] metamagic enhancements can make this weak spell pack more of a punch that its low Tier would suggest.**

 **Effect: Fires a single arrow of condensed mana at a single target. Counts as Piercing Damage. 15 Damage per arrow.**

 **Range: Short-Mid.**

 **Cost: 10 MP/Arrow**

Again, not sterling offerings, but at least I now had a basic attack spell that wasn't Shadow aligned. Basic or not, if it was really so generic, then knowing it would make me seem less suspicious to the inhabitants of this world. Also, it would let me play around with it to see if I could invent my own spells.

If this world really was a world of swords and sorcery fused with a sort of game interface system, then there almost _had_ to be a way to create spells. Humans, and probably the other races that could use magic, were inventive and innovative. Spells had to have come from somewhere and I did not believe that the gods had done so. That meant sentient, non-godly, beings had invented them. If I could find out how it was done, I might have something to while away the time once I found a place to hole up in.

Still, this small amount of EXP from low-level undead was problematic. I hadn't levelled up either of my classes and the loot had been dismal. Maybe the ultra-good tutorial loot had spoiled me?

Speaking of being spoiled, I'd not been as…edgy…as I had once been since being transmigrated. I had been expecting angst and nightmares, but I was just as chatterbox-like as I had been before Emma's betrayal.

Now that I think about it, Yliaster had regrown my arm, hadn't she? Had that undone my mental damage somehow? She had said that the higher dimensional plane she resided on was a fusion of mind, body and spirit/soul where all three were essentially the same thing. As she had regenerated my arm there, had there been some unexpected healing of the numerous scars on my psyche?

If that was the case…hell, I was glad of it. I had been more suicidal and resigned to my fate at the end there than I had been during my run-in with Lung. As I hadn't been the real Taylor Hebert, having the mental wounds removed was…a relief.

A hollow roar came from in front of me, making me look up. I immediately groaned. It wasn't a Bloodhulk or anything; it was a zombie. A Zombie Bear, to be precise. It was very obviously a zombie because of both the chunks of flesh hanging off of its carcass and the smell of rot that was making me want to vomit. And it was looking at me like I was a pound of raw meat.

"Fuck me running."

 _A Week Later_

 _Gates of the City of Hvergelmir, Niflheim_

I. Hate. Zombies.

In between trekking through filthy swamps and conquering barrows, tombs and other undead gathering points, I had been ambushed by so many damned wandering zombies, ranging from bears to puma to even a _raccoon_ , that I swore I'd never set foot in this Realm again once I had left it.

On the bright side, I had leveled up a lot thanks to the zombies being somewhat stronger than the skeletons. The loot had still been necromantic reagents and items though, which sucks. I did get some silver and copper though, which is always nice. I had also levelled up a good couple of times, with my Racial Class being Level 4 and my Job Class being Level 3 and ALMOST Level 4.

I was heading for the large gates that were the entrance to the city of Hvergelmir, taking its name from the freezing-cold well of the same name a few miles away. Even at this distance, the ice-old water made everyone's breath fog up. The gatehouse was an enormous edifice that was as tall as a small skyscraper and as wide as any four of the same height. Obviously the gates were not open, but a smaller section at the bottom was swung open, allowing ingress and egress. Oddly enough, no one seemed to be acting as guards.

Filing this under 'suspicious' in my mind, I advanced and eventually entered the city. I sighed in relief as the warmth of the city washed over me. They must use some form of wide-area heating magic, combined with the skyscraper-sized walls, to make this place livable.

I was interested in the number of different races I saw here; there were elves of all varieties, lizardmen, dwarves, undead, demons, and others I had no clue about what they were, all wandering intermixed with only the occasional hostile look or body check to express it.

Some were in armour of a single unified design and colour, with the symbol of a crystal in the claws of a reptile, possibly a dragon, embossed on their shields. These, I presumed, were the guards belonging to the lord of this city. Everyone gave them a wide berth, so I followed suit.

The first priority I had was finding an inn or somewhere similar to sleep. I had grown tired of sleeping up trees and in caves.

"Wheeeee!" a fairy randomly dive-bombed me and I ducked reflexively. Crazy things.

"Hey! Whatcha lookin' for?" the fairy asked as it fluttered in front of me.

"An inn, if you know one that isn't lice infested." I answered waspishly, not being too happy about being buzzed by a tiny thing like her for no reason.

"Yup. I'll lead you there for two coppers." The tiny woman said. She had pink hair and agate eyes, with red admiral butterfly wings. Her skin was light green and, aside from a fair-sized sword and sheath on a belt, was totally naked.

"Sure. Lead me into a trap and it's your wings." I informed her sternly.

"Jeez lady. You're seriously in need of a good massage." The fairy raised an eyebrow at me. "What the hell crawled up your ass?"

"I got randomly teleported to the edge of Helheim from Svartálfaheimr, had to run, fight and dodge my way through the entire world until I made my way to a part of this damned floor that was full of zombie animals that I've fought through for a week." I sort-of-ranted at her. "And now I've just been randomly dive-bombed by a fairy. I want to do nothing but sleep for a couple of days so…the inn, if you please."

Somewhat stunned, the fairy did as I asked and led me to a nice little place off the beaten track that was nice and shadowy. It was called, somewhat improbably, the Drunken Goose.

"Here's your payment, plus two extra for putting up with my temper." I gave the fairy the coins one by one. As the little thing put the coins into her Item Box, she had obviously taken at least one combat class. I had to wonder which one.

"Pleasure doing business with you." The fairy nodded at me. "Do you need a guide once you've finished recovering? Anywhere you wanna go for a silver."

I considered it. "Eh, why not? Meet me back here in a couple of days."

"Sure thing." The little woman nodded. "The name's Karen. See ya in two days….?"

"Taylor." I supplied.

"You Shadow Elves have the weirdest naming sense." Karen shook her head. "That's a Human name, isn't it?"

"You could say that it meant something to my mother." I said lightly before heading off to see about getting food, a bath and a bed, in that order.

 _Two Days Later_

"You look better." Karen observed as she fluttered into the Drunken Goose's tavern section. I was there having a surprising modern full English breakfast. It wasn't called that, but that's what it was.

"Not having to worry about being eaten by rabid zombies when I go to sleep does wonders for my temperament." I answered in between swallows. "So, you still up for the guiding job?"

"Yup. Payment up front for this one though." The fairy said.

Shrugging, I took out a silver piece and flipped it to her. "There."

"Once again, a pleasure." Karen grinned as she caught it and stored it in her Item Box. "So, where do you need to go?"

"Anyplace around here that I can get rid of some necromantic loot I picked up out there?" I asked. "I'm not interested in it."

"Sure. Niflheim's bread and butter is necromantic stuff." The fairy said. "What kinda stuff is it? It'll give me an idea of where to take you."

"Zombie teeth, bones, negative energy crystals, wands, a couple of swords formerly belonging to demi-death knights…" I listed. "Some Tutelary Scrolls with basic necromancy stuff…you know, that sorta stuff."

"Huh. Sounds like you cleared out a few tombs on the way here." She blinked. "I have a good idea where to take ya. It's a sorta necromancer's bargain basement store. So long as you don't bargain _too_ high, the owner'll pay what you ask for."

"Good to hear." I said before finishing up my breakfast and standing up. Unlike when I'd entered the city, I was wearing my casual clothing, so I didn't look nearly as intimidating. Fortunately, I had discovered that I could basically change my equipment on the fly with little more than a thought. I had left my dagger at my waist, as this place looked like the kinda place you'd want to advertise your ability to deal damage if necessary. "Let's go."

As I walked, I looked at Karen out of the corner of my eye. "So what's a fairy doing in Niflheim? Would've thought Ljosalfheim would be your preferred location."

"You and every person who sees me." The fairy groaned. "Do ya have _any_ idea how stiff and formal it is there? All of them stand around acting formal and stuff all day, every day. It was enough to make me go nuts! So I snuck into a dignitary's bag and ended up here. I want to travel the worlds…well, not Muspelheim, but the others? Definitely. Until I find a way to do that though, here I am, in the Realm of Primal Ice and Cold."

"I hope to find a way to go back to Svartálfaheimr." I mentioned. "If I do, wanna come with?"

"Sure. IF you find a way." Karen snorted. "I've been trying for over a _decade_ to find an Apple of Idun or someone who already has a World Pass to take me. No luck. The thought's nice, but pardon me for not holding my breath."

"Fair." I nodded.

The visit to the shop Karen recommended went well; the owner, an orc, paid me two gold, three silvers and twenty coppers for all of my useless necromancer stuff, which was pretty good. The next place I had Karen take me to was a shop that sold spells.

"In most other Realms, the Mage's Guild is in control of what spells are sold and who sells them." The fairy explained as she led me along a street. "In Niflheim though, the Mage's Guild knows better than to cross Lord Gojulas and the Council of Twelve. Especially here in Hvergelmir, where the Realm Lord's power is absolute."

"So this Lord Gojulas is intimidating enough to stop the Mage's Guild from pressuring him?" I asked, somewhat impressed. As the clone of a person who had controlled the criminal underworld of a city, I knew the troubles that entailed, so the additional stress and bother of being the legal ruler must be a royal pain in the rear.

Karen snorted. "He's a Level _100_ Archdemon, with Job Class specialties in Sorcery and Summoning. Not only that, the Council of Twelve aren't just his advisors; they're all level 60-plus powerhouses that act as his enforcers. Anyone who attempts to defy Lord Gojulas has at least one of them sent after them."

Huh. Note to self: stay out of this guy's way.

Shouting from up ahead drew our attention. The clashing of blades and shouting of men made Karen slap her head in frustration.

"Gah! Looks like those idiots are at it again!"

"Who?" I asked as I headed towards the fighting.

"There are multiple gangs in Hvergelmir, each competing for control of certain areas of the city, and the attention and favour of Lord Gojulas." The fairy explained as she fluttered alongside me. "Two gangs that have been kicking up a fuss recently are the Bombers and the Regency. Both are less than a year old, but both of their leaders are really powerful for newbies. The leader of the Bombers can create explosions, an Explosion Mage, and the leader of the Regency can usurp the control of someone's body or even interfere a group of people's control of it, some sort of Psionic Mage."

My heart skipped a beat. Could it be…?

"FUCK YOU, YOU WIMPY LITTLE BASTARD!" a female voice shrieked.

"Make me, bomb bitch." A cocky and _familiar_ male voice retorted.

Peering around the corner, I spotted two groups of people dressed in odd clothes, even for around here. One group wore robes and armour coloured like flames, while the other side wore black robes with small crowns perched at jaunty angles on their heads.

The leaders were studies in contrast. One was female, wearing a skintight outfit that left little to the imagination. It also had several metal spheres hanging from a loose bandolier slung over her shoulder and a plain red mask over her face. The other wore loose black robes fastened at the waist with a belt and a silver mask on his face with a mocking smile embedded into it.

"No one mocks Bakuda!" the now familiar woman shouted.

"Izzat so? Tough shit bitch; I just _did_!" the masked man sneered. "I'm Regent! You may remember me from when I kicked your ass way back when, along with the other Undersiders? We _owned_ you, bitch!"

Bakuda was almost ready to explode…literally. An aura of violence surrounded her and I was not looking forward to seeing her let loose. What should I do here…?


	95. Born Anew Chapter 4

**Born Anew Chapter 4 (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

…well, that should be obvious.

I sighed loudly and stepped forwards, drawing the attention of both gangs.

"Well isn't _this_ an interesting sight?" I drawled.

"A Shadow Elf!" one of Bakuda's goons, a goblin, hissed. "They're rare, boss!"

"Who the fuck're you?!" Bakuda demanded of me.

"Ah, so quickly forgotten." I sighed dramatically, ignoring Karen's insistent tugging of my hair. "You haven't changed…Bomber of Cornell University."

That made both Bakuda and Regent stiffen as I said a name that an inhabitant of this world shouldn't know…unless they were a Reincarnator or Transmigrator.

"So you know the explode-happy bitch. Big whoop." The former Master-class Cape said tensely. "As much as I hate to echo her question, I will: who the fuck _are_ you?"

"Considering I saved your ass from being chargrilled by a rage dragon with my swarm, I'm a bit hurt that you forgot me….Alec." I said back with a smile.

This made him actually physically stagger. "Dork? Weaver, is that _you_?!"

"I always preferred 'Skitter the Warlord', personally." I answered as I swiped one hand vertically, black shadows erupting across my body, fading away to reveal my combat equipment. Physically pulling my staff out of my Item Box, I nodded at him. "Glad to see you again, Regent. Should we take care of Bakuda like we did last time?"

Regent reared his head back and laughed. Honest and true laughter, not the snarky shit that he'd used back on Earth Bet. " _Fuck_ yes. Let's give this bitch what she deserves."

"Karen, hide." I whispered to the fairy.

"Gods in Asgard, you are _insane_!" she whispered to me angrily before fluttering away.

Now that she was clear, I could focus on the fight ahead. Bakuda's troops were mostly goblins, with a scattering of orcs and a handful of humans. If Bakuda was anything like she had been back in Brockton Bay though, she would heavily discourage any sort of independent thought or actions amongst her men. That meant that cutting off the head of the snake would demoralize and weaken her men.

First things first though…time to try out something I had read.

" **[Triplet Extend Magic: Shadow Strangle]!** " I shouted, raising one hand in front of me. A shadowy magic circle appeared in front of it as the spell activated. Bakuda found herself choking badly as _three_ cords of shadow erupted from her shadow and started to throttle her.

This was the aspect of magic that ALL Magic Casters in Yggdrasil had access to, metamagic enhancement. It wasn't limited by the tier of spell that you used, only the amount of MP that you had. By using the **[Triple]** addition, I essentially created two extra **[Shadow Strangle]** Spells and, by using the **[Extend]** addition, I raised the length of time the three spells would be active for by a minute. It cost 25 MP per addition, sometimes more depending on the tier of spell you wanted to cast the additions with, but it was worth it.

Fun fact: Unless you were capable of thinking your spells clearly, you couldn't use the **[Silent]** metamagic addition. Meaning that I had essentially silenced Bakuda _and_ robbed her of her spellcasting for one minute and thirty seconds, inflicting 45+ Shadow Damage per ten seconds. Choke on _that_ , bomber bitch.

" **[Widen Extend Boosted Magic: Distorted Puppet Dance]!** " Regent, being a sneaky bastard, wasn't wasting any time in taking advantage of Bakuda's weakness. The **[Widen]** addition increased a spells area of effect, while **[Boost]** upped a spells tier and power. Combined with the **[Extend]** addition and the name of the spell, I had a feeling that this was going to get tough for Bakuda's troops.

As I had half-expected, almost every single one of Bakuda's men started jerkily attacking one another. Those few who were unaffected were stormed by the controlled. It was odd though. Karen had said that Regent used some form of psionic magic, but this was less dominating their minds and more hijacking their bodies, a lot like his original Parahuman power had been.

This was odd. Assuming that Bakuda had the Mage equivalent to her old Parahuman power, that made both of them that had such a thing. I had a power that was, as much as it pained me to admit it, more like Shadow Stalker or Grue's powers. Was it because of the fact that I was Transmigrated or that I was Transmigrated by Yliaster? Food for thought later.

Regent's people either hung back and blasted their enemies with magic, mostly lightning or fire, or they snuck around and attacked from behind or the sides. Mages and Rogues, the kind of fighters that I'd expect Regent to recruit in this kind of world. I was surprised that there wasn't at least one warrior to act as a meatshield; Regent was not stupid by any means and preferred to keep his distance from his enemies unless he knew he could handle them up-close and personal. Having something like a warrior in armour to act as a defense would be his best play…unless he had a warrior class that left him to do that himself.

"Get that bitch!" Bakuda roared once the spell binding her neck ended. " **[Maximise Magic: Explosive Orb]!** "

Ripping one silver orb from her bandolier, she threw it at a group of Regent's men and the damn thing blew up like a grenade! It wasn't; I could see as it blew up (Elven eyesight for the win) that it was an orb filled with some sort of liquid. A catalyst like my staff? She wasn't an explosion mage then; she was an alchemist.

I had my own problems, as Bakuda's men had also been released from Regent's spell too. While most were held up by their opposing numbers, a couple were free to engage me. A goblin and a human. One with a staff and one with a wand.

Holding my staff horizontally, I grinned. " **[Twin Maximise Magic: Shadow Bolt]!** "

With a roar, a bolt of shadows erupted from each end of my staff and sped towards the approaching enemies, engulfing them in their darkness. The **[Twin]** addition created two of the same spell, essentially a lesser version of **[Triple]** , while the **[Maximise]** addition increased any destructive properties that a spell possessed, essentially giving it a flat addition to the damage it dealt. It was also the most common metamagic addition used in all of Yggdrasil.

As the two reeled from my spell, I cast another one. " **[Summoning: Steed of Shadows]!** "

As the shadow steed took shape between my legs, I smirked again beneath my face mask. Time to see how this idea worked.

With a fierce neigh, the **[Steed of Shadows]** hurled itself forwards, speeding towards the slowed-down thugs. I smashed the end of the staff down onto the head of the human, which may or may not have killed him. At any rate, he was down, and I was flying over Bakuda just as the [Steed] faded away, letting me dropkick her in the face.

"GAH!" the former Tinker yowled in pain as I leapt from her face, sending her sprawling on her back, and used the extra height to sail over a few more of her fighting men to land lightly. The standard Elf reflexes and agility was so damn useful.

"YOU!" one human yelled as he charged at me, wielding his staff as a club. I dodged the swing and drew my dagger, landing a cut on his inner wrist where his artery was. Blood flew and he yelled in panic. Daggers were weak weapons and rarely caused any serious damage. Mine was a bit different, as it was a {Scaling} weapon and could develop new skills and abilities as I grew in power, just like my staff.

As my dagger had the lowest level cap, I was unsurprised that, during my week long fight against zombies and other undead, my dagger been the first to evolve and that it had evolved twice. Its basic physical damage had gone up, as had its magic damage. That was the first evolution. The second had been a +20% Critical chance with all [Slash] type damage I dealt with it.

In case you missed the results, it works _really_ well.

"Shit! She has to be Level 7 or 8 altogether!" one cursed as he backed off. "Boss, we can't win like this!"

"Gaaaaahhhhh!" Bakuda roared in frustration, but then calmed down, much to my mild surprise. "Fine. Withdraw!"

"You think I'll let you?" Regent growled, stepping forward, a scepter, not unlike the one he'd used back on Earth Bet, in one hand.

" **[Widen Magic: Lesser Paralytic Mist Bomb]!** " Bakuda shouted as an answer, throwing another orb, which blew up and spread a mist around. Those who were enveloped in it found it difficult to move their bodies. I used **[Steed of Shadows]** again to avoid the mist, but doing so moved me away from Bakuda and her gang. By the time the mist dissipated, the woman and her gang were gone.

"Well shit." Regent sighed before turning to look at me. "Never thought I'd see you again, dork."

"Considering Behemoth killed you, the same goes for me." I answered as I sheathed my dagger. "A gang leader, Regent? You really don't change."

"And you keep throwing yourself in to help people with no good reason still." My former teammate retorted with a snort. "Listen, the guards'll be here in a minute, so we'd better scram. Where are you staying so we can sit down and talk?"

"The Drunken Goose." I rolled me eyes as I reverted back to my civ clothes. "Yes, the name's stupid."

"Suits you." The former Master teased me. "Right, I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

With that, Regent and his Regency (what a ham) left at a run. I quietly slipped away and was joined by Karen, who was a bit angry at me (read: furious).

"Just what were you thinking?!" she scolded me. "Involving yourself in a gang fight like that! Why?"

"Regent saved my life, and the life of another one of his friends, at great cost." I answered quietly. "I owe him for that."

It was true after all. Not many people would run around catcalling at Behemoth, knowing it would get the oversized Endbringer to squash him or blast him. If Regent hadn't done that, Lisa and I would have died, no questions asked. So I did owe him.

"Well that's odd." The fairy blinked. "Did you know he was here?"

"No, we haven't spoken in a few years." I shook my head as we arrived at the Magic Shop. "It was nice to see him though. Anyway, let's see what I can get here…"

Unlike in an RPG, what few of them my original had played on Earth Bet, a mage shop did not stock magical weapons or staves. It was all scrolls. Reams and reams of scrolls. Fortunately, there was a system in place. Scrolls with red ribbons securing them shut were [Tutelary] scrolls, intended to be used to teach someone a spell before crumbling away. Scrolls with green ribbons were literal spell scrolls, each holding the magic and formula to cast a single spell once before crumbling away. Then there were the blue-ribbon scrolls. These were blank, ready to have a spell embedded into them, to be taught or cast. A regular Magic Caster could do either, but not often.

The Job Class that truly excelled at the production of scrolls, according to Karen, was the [Enchanter], a support Job Class that, in addition to specializing in spells to enhance the attacks and stats of allies and weaken those of enemies, was also skilled in living up to the class name, enchanting weapons, armour and other items with magic, all with the basic **[Enchant]** spell, that grew in power as the [Enchanter] Job Class did.

I had no plans to become an [Enchanter], but I had to admit, it seemed to be a fascinating job.

"You were wrong, you know." I mentioned to Karen as I browsed. "The leader of the Bombers? She's an [Alchemist], not an [Explosion Mage]."

"I've never seen her before today." The fairy pouted. "All I had to go one was rumours and hearsay. The fact that she specializes in making things blow up is about right though."

"Wonder how she does it; the orbs she used as catalysts for her spells were unmarked." I mused.

"She must be using [Prima Materia] as the catalyst." Karen replied as she fluttered around. "It's a basic alchemic fluid that all combat-oriented [Alchemists] use. By inserting her MP into them as she throws them, she actualizes her magic."

"Isn't Prima Materia the same substance called Yliaster?" I raised an eyebrow, keeping my voice low.

"It is, but ever since the goddess Yliaster's position of Lady of the Shadows was usurped by Lord Myriad, the first name is more popular." Karen said, equally as quietly. "Lord Myriad isn't a cruel God, but he is ruthless in stamping out any trace of his predecessor."

"How'd that even happen?" I asked as I mentally debated the merits of two similar spells.

"Lord Myriad was a demigod who found a **[Crystal of Apotheosis]** in the depths of a labyrinth in Jötunheimr." The fairy informed me. "Lady Yliaster, while not unpopular, kept the Plane of Shadows fairly neutral in the struggles of the Dark and Light. This made her somewhat mistrusted by both sides and someone from one of the two sides guided Lord Myriad to this crystal and influenced him to use it to all but usurp her position. I think the hope was to have the Shadows finally commit to a position aside from refusing to aid either side. Thus far, Lord Myriad hasn't done anything but move to secure his position and weaken that of Lady Yliaster's. All of her temples and most of her shrines have been torn down. That she hasn't vanished yet is a mystery."

I made an agreeing noise and continued shopping. So, there was some kind of war between the 'good' gods and the 'bad' gods and Yliaster had refused to become involved? And because of that, she had been backstabbed by someone in the hopes of adding the Shadow deity to their ranks. I didn't know which part of that I liked less. Aside from his penchant for trying to kill Yliaster by wiping out her base of worship, Myriad didn't seem too bad.

Gods, as I had been informed by pop-ups, relied on their worshipers for power and existence. Myriad must have worked relatively quickly to displace Yliaster before the initial power of his godhead was exhausted As you would expect, a lot of worshipers had jumped ship to Myriad, but some had refused and were either imprisoned or in flight. I would bet a lot that they were gathering at the hidden temple to Yliaster. If only I knew where that was!

When we left the shop, I had purchased four scrolls in total. Two were spell scrolls that held the **[Purification]** spell. This Fifth Tier Spell would not only cleanse me of any poisons, venoms or drugs in my system, but give me low level resistances to them for the following six hours.

The other two were [Tutelary] scrolls that held new Shadow magic Spells. One was the Tier Two spell **[Burning Shadows]** and the Tier Three spell **[Mass Shadow Binding]**. These were to cover for my main weak points at the moment.

 **[Burning Shadows]** only worked on those who possessed the **[Shadow Aura]** skill. Normally, that was a pretty safe skill for others, as all it did was give me a boost to my Shadow Spells and other Shadow-oriented Skills when it was active, which I hadn't done so far. **[Burning Shadows]** turned that passive aura effect into a defensive aura that burned anyone other than me that it touched like virulent acid, and also acted like a small amount of armour. This gave me a verifiable defence spell.

 **[Mass Shadow Binding]** was exactly what it sounded like, a spell that reached out and bound the shadow, and thus the body, of any enemy within a certain distance of me. This was a Crowd Control spell, designed to keep a large group of enemies away from me for a while. Unlike **[Shadow Strangle]** , it didn't cause any damage, but it was cheap (for a Third Tier Spell) and lasted a fair amount of time, leaving me plenty of opportunity to blast the enemies into submission with my other spells.

"It's a shame that there weren't other Shadow Spells." I sighed. The selection had been limited to those two and one other, the First Tier **[Shadow Rope]** spell. That was more along the lines of a Rogue's spell though, so I left it for the moment. If this place had no other shops that stocked Shadow Spells though, I'd take it.

"I'll have a look around for you." Karen offered. "No charge if I find nothing, but a silver if I find a place that have spells other than the ones you already know."

"Sure." I nodded. I'd spent thirty silver today on spells, and I still had plenty left, so it was a reasonable fee. "For now, I'm looking to replace the belt I wear in combat. It's not magical at all and is pretty basic."

"Why wear it then?" Karen asked in confusion.

"I used what I had at hand. Better something than nothing." I shrugged.

"Point. You're really quite pragmatic about combat, aren't you?"

"I try. Now…lead on." I said.

 _The Next Day_

 _Drunken Goose Inn_

I eyed the belt I had gotten. For whatever reason, Shadow-affinity spells and items were really rare on this floor. I could guess it was because most of the enemies were Undead and thus immune to the cold that the higher-tier shadow spells had as a bonus effect.

Still, that meant that what Shadow-related items that there were here were relatively cheap, even if they were few in number. This new belt of mine was a good example.

 **[Belt of Transient Twilight] (Mid Class)**

 **A belt made by a mage in his twilight years, it possesses an affinity for that particular time of day, boosting the wearer's ability to use magic by quite a large amount for a Middle Class item. In exchange, however, it possesses no power whatsoever at any time other than twilight.**

 **\- Twilight Aura: At twilight, during both morning and evening, the wearer gains +50 to any magical attack and +20 to the wearers Magical Defence. At all other times, it counts as an ordinary leather belt of no particular worth.**

It was really, really, _really_ pinpointed in its effects. It was entirely powerless unless it was twilight, but when it was twilight, my power was boosted by quite a bit.

Stowing the belt back in my Item Box, I took a sip of my cup of what was the local equivalent to coffee. It tasted like roasted hazelnuts and was in dire need of some milk, but if I drunk it gradually, I wouldn't get any nasty aftertaste on my tongue.

"Well, I have to go." My conversation partner said as he stood up. The guy was an Undead and a [Skeleton Mage], so I had been wary at first, but he had been nice enough to walk me though the basics of using metamagic and other things in the last three days, so I was quite grateful.

"Thanks for your help." I said with a nod. "Safe travels."

"And the same to you, miss." The undead nodded. "I have to return to my guild now. We've only just gotten everything set up and some of them are overexcited about everything."

"I know the kind you mean." I laughed. "Well I owe you one for your help. If you ever need a [Shadow Mage's] help, just give me a call."

"I'll do that." the grinning skull nodded. "And if you need my help, look for our guild…Ains Ooal Gown."

With that, Momonga the Skeletal Mage left the Drunken Goose with a polite wave of a bony hand. Why he had been staying here for three days was beyond me; by his own admission, Undead didn't need to sleep or eat. Well whatever. He helped me out while he was here on business, so it doesn't matter.

A few minutes later, Regent, dressed in the same outfit he had been wearing yesterday, swaggered in. Yes, he actually _swaggered_.

"Dork." He said as he sat down in Momonga's vacated seat.

"Alec." I said with a cocked eyebrow. "You _have_ to come in your battle rattle? You look as if you're ready to kick ass and take names."

"A gang leader has to look the part." Regent shrugged. "At all times. Not much different than in Brockton Bay. What's the old place looking like now?"

"Dead. Like most of Earth Bet." I said bleakly. "Turns out Scion's actual name was Zion and he was the source of Parahuman powers. All of humanity was some kind of fucked up experiment for him. Jack Slash said something to him and he went apeshit. He tore up most of Earth Bet and a lot of other alternate Earths before I finally put the bastard down."

" _You_? You killed _Scion_?!" Alec looked shocked, even under a mask. I guess I was too used to reading him while wearing one.

"I got Panacea to Final Trigger me." I smiled tightly. "She put me beyond a Second Trigger and fully released the limits on my power, letting me control every parahuman within my not inconsiderable range. I used them all to kill him, and then ran to an alternate Earth that had no human life so I couldn't use my powers anymore. My mind was being devoured by my powers. The next thing I know, I'm being shot in the back of the head and then talking to Yliaster."

"If it wasn't for the fact that no Parahuman powers exist in this place, I'd've tried to kill you for telling me all that." Alec said with a hint of fear in his voice. I couldn't blame him; he had Triggered as a result of his father and siblings using their Master powers on him, so he had a reasonable fear of being Mastered himself. And my former powers had been scary enough that I tried not to think about them myself.

"Wait…" Alec said slowly. "You said Yliaster…as in the former Goddess of Shadows?"

"She's also the Dimensional Supervisor for the Milky Way." I chimed in all-too cheerfully. "She cloned me from the original Taylor Hebert and transmigrated me here after regenerating the arm I lost…or that the original lost…against Scion. She forgot to mention that she had been usurped, or that her only remaining temple was sodding well sealed away from teleports! I was almost sent to damn Helheim!"

"Dork, your luck is both amazingly good and amazingly bad as always." Alec shook his head in mild amazement. "Clone or not, you're still you. So, what're you doing in this merry pit of lawlessness?"

"I need to go to Svartálfaheimr. That means I need either someone with a World Pass or an Apple of Idun in order to acquire one." I said bluntly. "This is the only city in the whole realm, so where better to get one?"

"You need to have a Total Level of 15 at _least_ to go to the Temple of Týr." Alec said with a tilt to his head. "What level are you now?"

"Almost Level 8." I answered.

"Damn." Alec whistled. "I'm only Level 10. It's a demerit to those who have been Reincarnated as opposed to Transmigrated that the first year that we're reborn, we have a -35% Debuff to gaining all EXP. I've been here for six months, and spent most of them in a jail cell. Fucking Bakuda blew up several important places and framed me for it, the bitch."

"You seem more…stable than before." I noted.

"Side effect of being reincarnated; all our mental issues are either erased or greatly reduced." I could tell he was smug about this. "Fucking Dad and Cherie can kiss my ass."

"Last I knew about it, Aisha was looking after your siblings. Called themselves the Heartbroken." I offered. How I knew that was beyond me, but I guess Yliaster figured out I would meet Regent somehow and gifted me the knowledge.

"Fuck. That's a good name for 'em. Good on Imp." Regent nodded.

"Is Bakuda the only one from Earth Bet here apart from us?" I asked in concern. If she wasn't I'd have to take precautions.

"The only one other than us in _Niflheim_. To the best of my knowledge." The former Master corrected me. "For all I know, other dead guys and gals from Earth Bet are in the other eight realms, or even this one. I'd be careful, dork. If some of them know you from when you went all 'ultimate puppet master' on them, they could try to gank you."

"I'll use a false name from here on out." I agreed. "Rose…that was my mother's middle name. I'll use that. Shadow Elves have odd naming conventions, apparently, so it shouldn't raise any suspicions."

"It works." Regent nodded. "Why is it you're the only one out of us three that have dissimilar powers? My **[Puppet Mage]** powers are similar to my original power set, and Baku-bitch's **[Alchemist]** job is the same. You not only aren't human, but your powers are more like Grue's powers."

"Yliaster is the Goddess of Shadow Elves, apparently." I shrugged. "She said she couldn't guarantee what my race was, but I'd bet she influenced it strongly to be a Shadow Elf. As for the **[Shadow Mage]** part, I was given a bunch of choices and I chose this one. Better this than one like Psycho Stalker. For whatever reason, insect magic either doesn't exist or I just wasn't given the option."

"Would _anyone_ like to be like that bitch?" Regent scorned. "And **[Arthromancers]** _do_ exist here; I've seen a few of them in the city."

Tapping his finger on one arm of the chair, he sighed. "OK. There are a couple of things I've found out about World Passes for when I get one for myself. First, all of them take you to Midgard first unless you start from there. Midgard's kinda like the switching station for the Realms. Second, they can only be used once every thirty days or so. Meaning, you're pretty much stuck in Midgard until the pass' cooldown period ends."

"That last one sucks." I frowned.

"Yeah. Best thing is though; each World Pass can be used for up to six people at a time." The smugness rolled off of Regent like a visible aura. "Get two people with two different World Passes and you can have one take you to Midgard and the _other_ one can take you to Svartálfaheimr."

"Can I just say how much I _love_ loopholes?" I grinned.

"Yup. Problem is, Apples of Idun are pretty hard to get _at all_ here in Niflheim, as I'm sure you know." The gang leader stated. "I have one for myself, and no offence, but I'm not giving it to you. Fortunately, I _do_ know someone offering an Apple of Idun, a genuine one, as a quest reward. Want me to hook you up?"

I gave him a flat look. "Was there even a need to ask? What's the quest?"

"Assassination." Regent said seriously. "You have to kill Bakuda. She's seriously fucked up the dynamics in Hvergelmir; you aren't supposed to get people outside of the gangs involved in the fighting, kinda like in the Unwritten Rules back home, but man oh man, is she paying attention to that? Hell no. She set off a bomb in a marketplace that killed over a hundred noncoms. As in people who don't have a Combat Job Class. She's _this_ close to having a member of the Council of Twelve pay her a visit, but the gang leaders are being given a chance to deal with her the traditional way."

"Assassination is the traditional way?" I asked in confusion.

"The system is simple in Hvergelmir; the 'Outer' gangs are in the hundreds, none with members above Level 40." Regent explained. "The 'Inner' gangs are, at most, Level 80. The strongest twelve are the 'Top' gangs and their Guild leaders are the Council of Twelve. There is a strict set of rules for the gangs, including the 'no killing noncoms' rule. The only reason the Realm Lord hasn't gotten involved personally is because there's no actual proof that Bakuda was the one behind it; no evidence, no sightings of her…nothing. Everyone KNOWS it was her due to the method, but the Realm Lord doesn't interfere unless it's undeniable that someone has broken his rules."

"I'd say it's undeniable anyway…but go on."

"The speaker of the Council of Twelve, Lord Megalo the Deathscythe, has offered this quest to kill Bakuda. He's only offered it to those under Level 40, as most of the Inner Gangs don't want to leave Niflheim, whereas the Outer Gangs either want to be in with the Inner Gangs or they want to leave this cold shithole." My ex-teammate explained. "This has only ever been done before as a last effort to resolve everything before one of the Twelve step in to crush whatever idiot has stirred things up. I'd give it two more weeks before that happens. Get rid of Bakuda before that happens and you'll have yourself an Apple of Idun. I ain't too fussed about where I do after this so long as I leave the cold. I'll come with you at least as far as Midgard when we get everything resolved. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." I grinned at Regent. "Now, let's talk about dealing with a bomb bitch again…"

 **This actually quite fun to write. I just wish it wasn't so hot! As I type this, the temperature is 20 Degrees Celsius. Now, while that may not be hot by some standards, for where I live, it is far hotter than average. Urgh, I hate this kind of weather.**

 **On a different subject, please check out my Yuuki Yūna is a Hero one-shot and review it! It's been up for days without a single review!**


	96. Born Anew Chapter 5

**Born Anew Chapter 5 (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

 _Several Days Later_

 _Bakuda's Lab, Base of the Bombers, Outer Ring of the City of Hvergelmir, Niflheim, Yggdrasil_

Bakuda scowled as she mixed ingredients in her lab. She had been fucking killed by Lung in the Birdcage and then reborn in this shithole. No power except all of this 'magic' bullshit. Tch.

She did _not_ believe in magic. It was the manipulation of extra-dimensional energy through specific waveforms that were actualized by the bio-energy of the user and the words of the user. Magic her pretty ass.

Still, superstitious gobbledygook or not, her **[Alchemist]** Job Class had its advantages. First off, she had the ability to identify most herbs, metals and liquids at a glance. Second, she, strictly speaking, didn't have any spell slots filled. The absolute limit for most people was 300 spells at Level 100, but she hadn't filled even one. Instead, all of the 'spells' she had were 'Alchemic Reactions' that used basic **[Prima Materia]** as the catalyst to create effects that _looked_ and _acted_ like spells. The number of reactions she had access to depended greatly on how pure her **[Prima Materia]** was. At the moment, it was 40% pure, so she had 50 reactions available.

Of course, she still had to buy the reaction recipes in order to use the spells, and the limits there were just as solid as with spells, but it did mean that she could grab another class when she maxed out her current Job Class; maybe actually take **[Explosion Mage]** as a class in order to make the rumours about her Class true?

Still, she had only had to worry about that pissant Regent here in Niflheim. The rest would fall before her at some point, but Regent had been one of those brats that had been responsible for sending her to the Birdcage in the first place, making him someone she had to kill in order to prover her supremacy.

Now though, Skitter had shown up. _Skitter_! She had heard that the bug bitch had become one of the Warlords of Brockton Bay along with the other Undersiders. Someone she had met in another realm before she had been sent to the shithole that was Niflheim had said that she had unlocked some kind of super-version of her power and used it to kill Scion. She didn't believe them. At all.

It should be noted that while being reincarnated into Yggdrasil had removed all of Bakuda's Trigger-related trauma and mental issues, it did nothing for the superiority complex and arrogance that had been present beforehand, which had been stimulated indirectly by her Shard.

' _Fucking little bitch. If that_ is _Skitter, she's had her powers swapped out for something like Grue's power set._ ' The bomber thought as she carefully poured the aqua-coloured **[Prima Materia]** that she had just synthesized into hollow metal orbs. ' _How the hell is_ that _possible? Both me and the ren-faire reject have Job Classes that are at least superficially similar to our original parahuman powers. She had bug control, and now she has shadow magic. How the hell are those related? Not only that, I'm human and I'm certain Regent is too, so how does Skitter get to be a fucking Shadow Elf?!_ '

After fleeing (oh how she _hated_ that word) from the situation against the Regency and Skitter, she had done some research on Shadow Elves. Rarest fucking elven race on Yggdrasil, anti-social, aloof and with the ability to use Shadow Magic, Illusion Magic and Earth Magic. That was all very good, but it was the _weaknesses_ of the bastards that had interested Bakuda. Physically weaker than an average human and with eyes sensitive to light above the level of twilight? Say hello to the **[Solar Flare]** reaction recipe, bitch.

It _sounded_ impressive, but it was just a big explosion of light that did no damage…but it would blind someone who had eyes that were sensitive to light for upwards of a minute, and stun them for about as long. More than enough time for Bakuda to toss several of her bomb-spell reactions at the bitch and watch her immolate.

The shadow spells used against her and her gang previously were so-so, definitely only 1st Tier ones, but Skitter had used them, and metamagic enhancements, well. That thrice-bedamned strangling spell had taken out over _half_ of her Health Points! Not only that, at least three of her men had been beaten down by Skitter, with one killed from having his skull caved in.

' _No one fucks with me._ ' Bakuda thought viciously as she sealed the orbs shut with a useful little skill that the **[Alchemist]** class possessed called **[Minor Transmutation]** , which allowed her to manipulate materials that she was touching, including sealing little plugs of metal to their containers. ' _Not Regent, not Lung…and not fucking Skitter either!_ '

That was the last thought she had before a shadowy noose dropped over her head and tightened around her neck, slowly pulling her up into the rafters of her lab. She hadn't bothered securing the place properly because this was only a temporary hideout, the seventh in the last two months. She had been planning to leave as soon as she had finished up with her anti-Skitter weapons, but this…!

"You really are a complacent one, Bakuda." A familiar voice said softly as the former-Tinker tried to claw at her throat to no avail. Behind her, Skitter stood on a rafter as she steadily choked the life out of Bakuda using a long length of shadows.

"No traps…no guard…no precautions…" the Shadow Elf listed calmly. "It's almost as if you believed that no one knew about this place. As if you never expected Regent's men to be able to infiltrate this place. He's known about this safe house of yours ever since he was released from prison after you framed him; his men are _very_ efficient. All of your 'safe houses' are being raided at this very moment; your gang is finished."

"B-Bitch…!" Bakuda rasped out. "I-If I ha-had my catalysts…!"

"Tough…you don't have any on you or you'd have used them by now." Skitter stated calmly. "As I said, you've gotten _sloppy_ …Bakuda. Not keeping an emergency backup catalyst on you is something that you would have done on Earth Bet as a matter of course."

This was the greatest flaw for the **[Alchemist]** Class; without a catalyst to use, they couldn't cast spells, _at all_ , unless they had a separate spellcasting class to rely on aside from **[Alchemist]**. As the rope being used to strangle her was made of shadows, it wasn't something that her **[Lesser Transmutation]** skill could affect and even if it was a mere 1st Tier Spell, she had no skills or equipment that could destroy it.

' _A-Again…? This little bitch…is going to kill me…again?!_ ' the former Tinker thought in a fury. Her mind rebelled against the idea and she scrabbled, thrashed and flailed, trying to get the rope off of her, uselessly. It burned like acid!

"I don't know why you, Regent and I have come to this world, and I don't know how many others are here from Earth Bet, but I _can_ say that of all people, _you_ should never have come here." The former Warlord stated coldly. "You are a mad dog who delights in the suffering of others and in proving your superiority by hurting people. You were never deserving of a reincarnation. Return to nothing, where you belong."

With a final rasping gasp of air, Bakuda's HP reached zero and her thrashing ceased. A silent scream of fury was all her mind was capable of as it fled into the void.

 _With Taylor_

I had to grimace. That had been an appallingly slow way to kill someone. Not as bad perhaps as when my original had literally suffocated Alexandria to death by forcing bugs down her throat and up her nose, but bad enough for all that.

Releasing my hold on the **[Shadow Rope]** spell that I had cast with the **[Silent]** , **[Boost]** and **[Maximise]** metamagic additions, I watched as Bakuda's corpse fell to the ground with a meaty thud. I had gone back to purchase the Tier 1 spell after Karen the Fairy was only able to source me two other spells. Seriously, of _all_ the damned places, I had to land in the _one_ Realm in Yggdrasil that had almost no Shadow aligned spells or equipment in it!

Fortunately, I was used to working with less resources and equipment than I would otherwise prefer to have.

Bakuda's death had been relatively swift because of one of the two spells Karen had gotten me. **[Lesser Shadow Vitality Drain]** was a Tier 3 spell that could be used in close contact or by using any shadow or Shadow Spell connecting me and my target as a medium. Case in point, my **[Shadow Rope]** spell. It was quite powerful when used on someone under Level 40, as it drained an amount of HP from my target equal to their Total Level multiplied by five per thirty seconds. As a Magic Caster generally had lower health than, say, a warrior, this was a very effective strategy. Bakuda, being Level 7, had been inflicted with a base amount of damage of 35 every thirty seconds. Add in the damage amplification from my equipment, including the **[Belt of Transient Twilight]** and that was _94_ damage every 30 seconds, not including the strangulation damage and the damage from me channeling my **[Shadow Aura]** with **[Burning Shadows]** active through the shadowy rope as well.

"You done, dork?" Regent said as he sauntered through the door he just flung open and looked at Bakuda's corpse. "Nice. You only need the head as proof of the kill, FYI."

"I am _not_ cutting her head off." I stated flatly. "The blood would go _everywhere_."

Before Regent could say anything, a white crystal the size of a European Cantaloupe Melon appeared above Bakuda's body and floated over to somehow enter my inventory.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **By slaying a killer of the innocent, the gods have bestowed some of their bounty upon you!**

 **Prize: Reward Crystal (Medium) X1**

 **Reward Crystals are unique gifts of the gods that are rarer than hen's teeth (yes, those exist here too). They are the basis of every magic item above High-Rank, allowing such powerful items to be made without collapsing in on themselves from the sheer weight of magic. Due to the numerous people Bakuda had killed, both on Earth Bet and in Yggdrasil, the usual Reward Crystal (Small) was upgraded to a Reward Crystal (Medium).**

 **Ask at the temple of your god for details on how to use the Reward Crystal!**

I felt like punching someone. _Again_ , the temple to which I had no idea as to its location was the source of information about these things! Gah!

"Man, sucks to be you." Regent was amused when I told him. "I don't think anyone has ever gotten a Reward Crystal here. No one here has been stupid enough to break the Realm Lord's rules in years, and only the _really_ bad types get that kind of bounty put on them by the gods. I can't help with how it works though. Sorry."

"It's ok. I'll just have to get to the damned temple, wherever it is, and get all of the information I need." I sighed as I knelt down and threw Bakuda over my shoulder before standing backup. The bitch was surprisingly light, but that's because in this incarnation, she had been shorter and slimmer than she had been on the last time I had seen her on Earth Bet.

I followed Regent out of Bakuda's lab after the former Master-class Parahuman had swept all of Bakuda's expensive equipment and supplies into his Item Box. For those in this world who weren't Transmigrated by a devious usurped Goddess, they could upgrade their Item Boxes by completing quests at their god's temple or at the local town hall for those who had no god or goddess selected.

Lucky bastard.

Nodding to the members of the Regency who were cleaning up after cleaning out Bakuda's gang from this 'safe house' that she had set up. Regent hadn't taken long to find them all when he had gotten out of prison after proving that he hadn't had anything to do with the bombings. The main problem had been discovering which one the ever paranoid Bakuda was holed up in. My stealth skills, even although I wasn't a rogue, were quite a bit better than Regent's best men (and women), mostly because he's had them focus of the thievery part of their skillset rather than the stealth part.

Apparently that was a thing. Whichever skills you used more often were the ones that leveled up first; and it was the skills that you had that occasionally influenced what new Job Classes and Racial Classes you could select once your current ones were maxed out. After your first Job Class was maxed out, you could apparently select what Job Class you wanted to level up every time you reached the next level, but most preferred to level one class at a time, a rather sensible outlook.

"So? Where are we taking her?" I asked with an eye roll at the jaunty waves Regent was giving the passing people. Evidently a Shadow Elf carrying a dead human over her shoulders isn't something remarkable in this place. Such is Niflheim, I suppose.

"There are two ways to claim a bounty in Hvergelmir. First is to take the body to the Bounty Office if it's a regular one." Regent informed me casually. "Bakuda is no ordinary Bounty Head, so we have to use the second one."

"Which is?" I huffed as I adjusted the corpse.

"We go to one of the plazas, drop the bitch's body in the center and you claim the reward given by Lord Megalo by right of completing his quest." The masked man stated. "Only Council of Twelve Bounties or Realm Lord Bounties are claimed this way, and it's been over a decade since the last one was issued and claimed, so you'll have an audience."

Lovely.

Carrying a dead body wasn't my idea of a good time, not the least reason of which was that the term 'dead weight' was a very _good_ term for why corpses are awkward to carry. I would have tried to put Bakuda's corpse in my Item Box were it not for the fact that one of the few things that could not be placed in them, according to both Regent and Karen, were corpses. No idea why that was, but no matter how large the Item Box, no corpses, not matter how large, small or light, could be placed in them.

Eventually, we made it to a plaza and I groaned. Dotted around the 'outer' portion of the city were thirteen plazas, one for each of the Council of Twelve and one for the Realm Lord. Regent being Regent, of course we were at the Realm Lord's plaza, which was half-again as big as the others. Talk about an ego.

"I hate being stared at." I grumbled. It was one thing when I had worn a costume, but now I wasn't. Well, technically I was if you wanted to call an entirely new body a 'costume.'

"Tough shit." My ever sympathetic ex-teammate told me bluntly. As always, the guy was as uncaring about things like this when it wasn't him in the spotlight.

Throwing Regent a dirty look, I started forward, ignoring the looks that I was getting, as well as the whispered conversations that started.

"Isn't that the leader of the Bombers, Bakuda?"

"She's dead! Is the one carrying her corpse the one who killed her?"

"A Shadow Elf? Please, they don't generally get involved in things like this outside of Svartálfaheimr."

Everyone seems to have an opinion, don't they?

Dumping the body of Bakuda in the center of the plaza and stood straight. "I am Rose, a lone Shadow Elf!" I declared. "I have slain Bakuda, leader of the Bombers and claim the reward offered for her life, presenting her corpse as proof of my deed!"

That was such a ham-style speech that it made me want to slap my face in exasperation, but according to Regent it was considered the norm here. Geez, the place was like out of a badly written fantasy novel.

With a flash of light, Bakuda's corpse vanished, replaced with a golden apple the size of a large grapefruit. An Apple of Idun.

Picking it up carefully, I placed it in my Item Box. When I did, I also got a notification that my Classes had Leveled Up again, putting me at Level 11 in total. Just four more levels until I could offer the Apple at the Temple of Týr in exchange for a World Pass and get out of this unholy little hell of cold and Undeath.

"Let's jam, dork." Regent said with a nod.

"'Let's jam'? What are you, my grandad?" I scoffed as I turned and walked back to him. "Since when did you start using such old fashioned terms, Regent?"

"Shut up." The former Master snapped back easily.

As we walked out of the plaza, I thought I caught sight of someone standing atop a building nearby, but when I turned to look, there was no one there.

"Probably Lord Gojulas himself." Regent opined. "He was probably getting irritated with Bakuda, so he wanted to see who killed her. Congrats, dork; you now have the attention of a Realm Lord."

"You do realise this guy probably makes Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon look like weaklings?" I said flatly as I unconsciously tugged my hood higher. "The _last_ thing we need is to get the attention of someone that powerful."

"He doesn't involve himself in people who aren't at _least_ Level 50." Regent disagreed. "Ditto with the Council of Twelve, unless someone pulls a Bakuda, and that's strictly as a last resort. Don't break the rules and you'll be fine."

"That's a bit trusting considering what that bastard Coil pulled in the Bay." I commented.

"Binding magical oaths would be the reason." Regent shrugged. "All 'Inner' gang leaders and the Realm Lord have to swear one to uphold the laws as of when they take up their positions, with the Realm Lord having to re-swear it when a new law is passed."

"You mean like that Cape from Florida…Oathkeeper?" I asked skeptically. During my time with the Philly Wards, I'd heard about this villain, Binder, who had a Master-class power that allowed him to force people to act on their words. By using verbal trickery, he'd made one man 'take a flying leap' out of a window, a woman 'get lost' and lose all sense of direction and another man 'give a shit' and soil his pants. He could also force someone to make a promise and they'd keep it. He got captured, forced into the Protectorate and made to rebrand as Oathkeeper.

"Way less malicious. You have to sign the contract willingly and to do that, you have to first read it through fully." the leader of the Regency informed me. "And this world hasn't invented the concept of small print yet."

Good to know.

A few hours later, I was nursing a faux-coffee and was talking with Regent in his main hideout. We were mainly talking about who might have been reincarnated in Yggdrasil from our world. The one he was most worried about was his father, Nikos Vasil, heartbreaker, after I told him that Imp had killed the bastard.

Other worrying people included Alexandria, Eidolon, Coil and several members of the Empire 88 and other criminal groups. Some that might be not so bad included Gallant, Aegis and a fair few others that I'd met over the years. Some I had no idea about whether they'd lived or died during the event my memories referred to as the Golden Morning, such as Lung and Marquis.

"My bastard old man's going to be a pain if he has a power set similar to his Master power." Regent was saying with a frown. "I mean, he'd have to start fairly low power, but any kind of mental domination magic will be a total pain unless you're Undead; they're completely immune to mind magic. So are Golems, now that I think about it."

"Yes, but like Imp proved, if he doesn't see a threat that needs to be mind-fucked, he is not invincible." I pointed out calmly. "And we don't even know who and how many people from Earth Bet are even here; we may have dodged a bullet and Heartbreaker isn't here."

"I am _not_ that lucky." Regent said flatly. "I'm just gonna work on the assumption that my old man's in Yggdrasil and buy a fuckton of anti-mind magic gear. Jeez, that old bastard still keeps messing things up for me, even after he got killed!"

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." I smiled ruefully.

"Nah, I figured that me and the bomber bitch weren't the only ones from Bet here." The former Master shook his head with a shrug. "She said that someone sent her here from Midgard, and I she'd hinted that it was someone from Earth Bet."

"Great, so we have to be on the alert when we're in Midgard." I muttered. "Is there any correlation between where someone is reincarnated to what kind of person they were in their previous life, do you think?"

"Well, not counting you, who was transmigrated rather than reincarnated, I was reincarnated here in the city and Bakuda was reincarnated somewhere in Midgard." Regent mused. "I don't think it has anything to do with what we did in our last lives. Humans, like me and Bakuda, are spread out among Midgard, Niflheim, Nidavellir, Svartálfaheimr and a small enclave in both Asgard and Vanaheimr. Muspelheim is way too hot for anything but the fire giants, Jötunheimr is hazardous to our health, Helheim is where the dead who die outside of battle go and Alfheim is for the Fae only. I think it's probably kinda random."

"Nidavellir…the land above Svartálfaheimr?" I said slowly. "The home of the dwarves?"

"The original homeland of the dwarves, yeah." The reincarnated Master agreed. "They live all over the place though; only two Realms that don't have dwarves of some description are Muspelheim and Helheim. Most races have their homelands, but live all over the place."

"So there might be old enemies lurking in every damned Realm." I sighed. "It's just like being a villain again!"

"Meh, we're used to it." Regent shrugged. "You'll have to worry about the servants of Myriad once you get to Svartálfaheimr as well. The home territory of the reigning God of Shadows is always the Realm of Shadows, and I'd bet a lot of the former worshipers of Lady Yliaster have gone over to Lord Myriad. You'll definitely be in enemy territory there."

"Unless he has a way of differentiating who worships him or not, I should be fine." I mused. "I might stopover in Midgard to do some leveling while I'm there, though. Grinding in Niflheim is too hard because my magic's not very effective against the Undead."

"Same here, although not to your extent." Regent agreed. "If there's a High-Level Undead Magic Caster nearby, there's a pretty high chance that my Puppet Magic won't work on the lower-level Undead. I'm pretty glad I only have two more Levels to go before I can select another Job Class; maybe get a direct-attacking Magic Class this time around."

"I might add in a Rogue class." I admitted. "Shadow Elves are just too damned good at being sneaky to ignore that side of them. I might also think about another support-type Magic Class, like **[Enchanter]**."

"Huh. You'll be in high demand from guilds then." My ex-teammate noted.

He then explained about the various levels of cooperative groups in this world. First, there were [Parties], which were six people at maximum. These were usually temporary affairs, but some people stayed in the same [Party], travelling the Realms together, for years at a time.

Next there were [Raid Groups], a conglomeration of [Parties]. These were always an ad-hoc arrangement or a short-term arrangement, coming together with the express purpose of conquering a dungeon or another similar objective.

The most common grouping after that was the [Gang]. It functioned as a slightly more formal version of a [Raid Group] but without many bonuses to having it. The [Gang Leader] could add and dismiss people as and when required.

The last group that Regent was aware of was that of a [Guild]. A [Gang] was a proto-version of this group. Not just anyone could make a [Guild]; there were requirements, both financial and material, before you could form one. You had to possess a certain amount of money, complete a quest to acquire a [Guild Membership Form] _and_ possess a location to use as your [Guild Base] before you could found one.

Momonga, the Skeletal Mage that I had talked to the previous week, was a member of a Guild; there were only _nine members_ in it in total. It boggled the mind to think that they had formed one with such a small amount of personnel.

"So do the people I take along with me via a [World Pass] have to be in the same party to be included in its effect?" I asked.

"Ding-dong! Correct!" Regent nodded. "I saw one idiot go to the Bifröst and accidentally leave his party behind because he forgot about that. Boy, were they pissed."

"I can imagine." I shook my head bemusedly. Hell, _I'd_ be pissed in that situation.

"Anyway…let's get down to finding a good place to get us both up to Level 15." I said as I finished my coffee. "I have a temple to find and I'm not going to do it here."

 **OK, so just to make something clear; Taylor has been transmigrated as an inhabitant of Yggdrasil. She is neither Player, nor NPC, the same applying to anyone else from Earth Bet who has reincarnated there. They get unique quest opportunities not available to Players and can become stronger than most NPC's, who are typically stopped at Level 80 or so. This is my head-canon here, so feel free to ignore it if you want.**


	97. Born Anew Chapter 6

**Born Anew Chapter 6 (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

 _Two Weeks Later_

Huh…this was a hard choice.

I was staring at the screen in front of me as I was sat at a table in the Drunken Goose. Thanks to Regent's insane questing schedule, my level had skyrocketed to Level 15 rather quickly and then Level 20 just an hour ago. A lot of the EXP I had received had been through the use of my natural Shadow Elf skills, so it was of little surprise that my Racial Class had Levelled up faster than my Job Class.

What had been a surprise was that the [Shadow Elf] Racial Class maxed out at Level 10. This meant that I can now add another Racial Class if I had one available, and I was seeing two of them right now.

 **[Please Select Your Next Racial Class!]**

 **\- Elder Shadow Elf (LV5 Max)**

 **\- Shadow Elf Rockseer (LV10 Max)**

 **\- Shadow Elf Shade Dweller (LV10 Max)**

This was somewhat confusing for me, because while I hadn't heard anything about the first or third ones, the second one was simply two names for the same species jammed together…or so I thought. Curiously, I tapped all of the classes for some information on them.

 **\- [Elder Shadow Elf]: A Shadow Elf whose blood has awoken, fully restoring the physical strength that the Shadow Elf Race lost when they fled underground millennia ago. The effect of daylight on their eyes is also weakened, but it is still painful. Also has a better connection to spells that are not Shadow, Illusion or Earth.**

 **\- [Shadow Elf Rockseer]: A Shadow Elf who has started to commune with the earth and rocks at a much deeper level, even taking on some of the characteristics of the rock, increasing their physical defence and offence in exchange for some loss in agility. They also gain the ability to mold rocks with a touch.**

 **\- [Shadow Elf Shade Dweller]: A Shadow Elf who has started to commune with the shadows on a deeper level. In exchange for a better ability to connect with the Shadow Plane and shadows in general, the visual weakness towards daylight is ramped up.**

All in all, the choice, now that I could see what they did, was easy. Choosing the bottom two was basically customizing my Shadow Elf body along the lines of one of the two 'normal' Shadow Elf Specialties. While they were tempting, I was not convinced that they were the right choice. For one, losing the boosted agility, the main point of being an elven race in the first place, was a questionable choice, even with the improved defence. For another, beco0ming even MORE vulnerable to light was not my idea of a good idea. You're supposed to mitigate and eliminate weaknesses, not enhance them! What nincompoop came up with that idea anyway?

Having eliminated that pair, the only choice to take was the [Elder Shadow Elf] Race. It eliminated two weaknesses, and mitigated the overreliance on Shadow, Illusion and Earth Magic that seemed to be a weakness of Shadow Elven Mages.

 **[Warning!]**

 **Ignoring the [Shadow Elf Rockseer] and [Shadow Elf Shade Dweller] now will lock you out of selecting them permanently.**

 **Do you wish to proceed?**

 **Y|N**

I only hesitated for a moment before hitting 'Y' with one finger. Hopefully my gut feeling about this class would be proven right…

 **Congratulations! Your Racial Class has advanced! You are now a LV1 [Elder Shadow Elf]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Shadow Affinity IV] has become [Shadow Affinity V]!**

 **\- Skill improved! [Shadow Heal III] has become [Shadow Heal IV]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Shadow Aura II] has become [Shadow Aura III]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Shadow Walker III] has become [Shadow Walker IV]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Shadowborn III] has become [Shadowborn IV]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Darkvision III] has become [Darkvision IV]!**

 **\- Skill devolved! [Light Sensitive II] has become [Light Sensitive I]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Caveborn II] has become [Caveborn III]!**

 **\- Skill Improved! [Blessing of Yliaster II] has become [Blessing of Yliaster III]!**

 **\- Skill Gained! You have gained the [Elven Strengthening I] Skill!**

 **\- Skill Gained! You have gained the [Surface Magic Connection I] Skill!**

 **\- Skill Gained! You have gained the [Light Resistance (Eyes) I] Skill!**

 **\- Skill Gained! You have gained the [Greater Shadow Affinity I] Skill!**

Whew. That's quite the harvest of skill upgrades and new skills. It made it worth the extra work to get as strong as I was right now. Regent had found a slew of dungeons that were _not_ infested by the undead for a change. These ones had been infested with a subspecies of goblin instead, meaning that my spells would all work on them fully.

I had actually taken care of the last couple completely alone. Regent had called me out for showing off, but I was just trying out my skills against multiple opponents without backup. It had nothing to do with showing off.

Anyway, none of the loot was any good, again. Mostly a bunch of Low and Mid Class equipment that I had just sold. Mostly because it was all warrior-oriented stuff, with what few pieces of Magic Caster equipment being not as good as what I already had equipped. Typical. Then again, not unexpected from a bunch of goblins, really.

"You done?" Regent asked as he sat down in the chair opposite mine.

"Yeah. Just chose a new Racial Class." I answered. "You?"

"I chose mine a while back, remember?" the former Master-class Parahuman retorted. "I'm now not only a **[Puppetry Mage]** , I'm also a **[Sorcerer]**. The new spells really kick ass; now I can at least attack people outright instead of just making them dance like idiots."

"You make them attack each other anyway." I pointed out reasonably.

"Nah; the spells I have just make their targets go nuts, doing one of a few random actions." Regent shook his head. "I'd have to get a Tier 5 spell at _least_ before I could actually control them myself, and even then that would be just individual limbs rather than the entire body."

"How many spells do you actually have?" I asked curiously.

"Baker's Dozen." The reincarnated teen replied flippantly.

Huh. I had **[Shadow Daggers]** , **[Shadow Cloak]** , **[Shadow Bolt]** , **[Summon: Steed of Shadows]** , **[Shadow Strangle]** , **[Message]** , **[Create Item]** , **[Magic Arrow]** , **[Burning Shadows]** , **[Mass Shadow Binding]** , **[Shadow Rope]** , **[Lesser Shadow Vitality Drain]** and the one I hadn't used yet, **[Shadow Doppelganger]**.

"The same." I nodded. "Funny how that works out."

"It's not really surprising; neither of our initial classes are really meant for this place." Regent waved a hand dismissively. "Your Shadow magic is more oriented towards targeting the living, just like my magic is. Speaking of, catch."

I caught the scroll he threw at me. "And this is?"

"A tutelary scroll that has a Shadow Spell in it, **[Shadow Wings]**. A Tier 4 spell." Regent shrugged. "None of my guys have any affinity for Shadow magic, so that spell may as well go to someone who can use it properly. From what I hear, that spell lets the caster fly using shadowy wings, just like the name suggests, but only at night or in dark places like caverns."

I instantly learned it. In addition to what Regent had told me, it also upped my agility and speed in the air, which would explain why it was a tier above the standard **[Fly]** spell.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now, let's go to that temple and exchange our apples." Regent said, standing up.

Leaving the city was as cold and chilling as ever. Seriously, this place made the Arctic Circle on Earth Bet seem mild by comparison! Still, at least the roads had magic on them that dissolved the snow that landed on their surfaces without leaving water to freeze. This meant that, despite the heavy snowfall, the way to the Temple of Týr and the Bifröst was clear and well-marked.

"These gods really have large temples." I remarked, looking up at the large building that was more than slightly large for a muscle-power civilization to build. It wasn't so much _tall_ as it was large, meaning that while it _was_ fairly tall, at least the same height as about the waist of the Statue of Liberty, it was the size of the entire complex of the temple that was impressive. There had to be an entire small city in there! It was bigger than four football stadiums lined up in a square!

Standing atop the centermost area of the temple was a shining golden statue of a man in Viking-style clothing. He had long, wild hair and clasped a scepter in one hand. His other was missing, covered by his sleeve. It made sense as Týr had lost one of his hands while binding the wolf Fenrir with Gleipnir, an unbreakable ribbon forged from six impossible ingredients.

As we approached the main door of the temple, which was as large as an eighteen wheeler, the pair of guards at the door barred the way with their weapons, a pair of massive halberds. And, judging from the sense of intimidation I'm getting off of them, they have to be way stronger than me, like twenty levels stronger at least.

"Halt! Who approaches the Temple of Týr, God of Law and Warfare?" one of them boomed. They were wearing identical golden armour that shone dully in the eternal twilight of Niflheim.

"Regent of the Regency Gang." My companion said.

"Rose, a lone Shadow Elf." I stated. "We seek entrance to the temple to present Lord Týr with offerings."

With a click, the two guards parted their weapons. "Enter then, but be warned; you are not permitted to strike a worshiper of Týr whilst within His Temple."

Uh-huh. And if some asshole didn't abuse that stipulation, I would be very surprised.

The doors, emblazoned with a large arrow-like rune pointing up that I vaguely recalled as being called Tiwaz, split apart to allow us entry, which we were eager for. It was damned cold, even with the heat-enchanted cloaks that were standard issue for anyone walking around outside of the only city on the floor that we were wearing.

Inside, we had to wait for the outer door to close before the inner door opened, kinda like an airlock. It was also a sensible precaution when dealing with the bone-chilling cold of Niflheim.

The main hall was lined with gold and had decorative murals on the wall depicting the God Týr in various heroic situations, including the time Fenrir bit off his hand. Others included him fighting a large wolf or dog that looked different to Fenrir, adjudicating in court and standing on the battlefield, sword in hand. At the far end of the hall was a larger than life statue of the God himself, cast from pure gold, and standing in front of it was a man wearing the robes of a priest. He had a sword sheathed at his side.

"I thought priests didn't use bladed weapons?" I murmured to Regent.

"Priests of Týr are the exception to the rule; a sword represents justice in some cases." Regent whispered back.

"Welcome, petitioners, to the Altar of Heroic Glory." The priest greeted us once we came within three meters of him. "Present your offerings and you shall be given the appropriate reward for them."

Almost in unison, Regent and I brought out our Apples of Idun and held them up. A gesture from the priest had the apples vanish and gold and silver bracelets with rainbow-coloured crystals in the center of them appear in our hands in their place.

"For offering an Apple of Idun apiece, you are each awarded a [World Pass] bracelet." The priest stated somewhat pompously. "Might I ask whether the two of you intent to travel to Midgard within the next few weeks?"

I looked at Regent for a moment before answering. "We were planning on heading there next week."

"Ah good." The Priest nodded. "As it so happens, I have a missive and package that needs delivering. I hereby offer you both a quest to deliver both to the Head Temple of Týr in Midgard. The reward is twenty gold each, half paid up front, with the rest upon safe delivery. Will you both accept?"

"Sounds interesting. I'm game." Regent opined.

"Sure." I shrugged. I had the sense that this was going to be less 'interesting' and more 'troubling', but considering I was the 'Chosen' of a usurped Goddess and had to keep an eye out for worshipers of the usurper in case they tried to kill me, I was technically already in trouble. "When do we pick up the missive and package?"

"The day before your departure." The Priest said, looking pleased. "I am on duty every day at this time, so simply come then."

"We will." I said with a bow of my head. "We shall see you in a few days then, Father."

"May Týr bless your battles, my child." The cleric said magnanimously, sketching the rune of Týr in the air with a bow of his head in return.

Once we left the temple and were about halfway back to Hvergelmir, Regent said, "That priest is scheming something."

"Oh?" I said, feigning obliviousness. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh come off it." The gang leader scoffed. "Every temple has a way of communicating and sending things to other temples of the same faith. Don't play dumb with me; you're way too sharp to not see that this guy's scheming something, even without knowing that."

"Nice to see you appraise my intelligence that highly." I said dryly. "Yeah, he's up to something alright. I'll bet you coppers to gold that the package is something illegal or dangerous or both, while the 'missive' tells whoever is receiving it to have both of us 'disappear' a short time after we deliver it."

"Or else telling the priest we deliver it to that we should be arrested and put to death." Regent agreed. "The religious types are split into three categories when it comes to things like this: the underhanded category, which hires thugs to do their dirty work; the smug category, which uses their positions at churchmen to do their dirty work; and the openly corrupt category, which uses both and reign as tin gods in whatever mud pit village that they are assigned to. I'd bet on one of the first two if we're talking about the m central temple of a religion."

"Cynical much?" I smirked. "You haven't changed. So then…what do we do about it?"

I couldn't see his expression thanks to his ever-present mask, but I could imagine his smirk. "Simple dork; we go in, deliver the package and get the heck out of dodge as fast as we can. If necessary, we get a teleportation scroll or two. Worst come to worst, we'll fight our way out."

"Whatever happened to the Regent who didn't do anything if there wasn't a payday in it for him?" I teased as the city walls came into sight.

"He got reborn." Regent replied. "Without the stupid scars of torture in his mind. Now let's get back so I can track down some of my boys and girls to come with us."

"You plan on taking some of the Regency with you?" I was unsurprised. Regent was always careful when it was his own hide he was guarding.

"Yep. You going to take that fairy girl with you?" the former Parahuman asked.

"I did promise her." I shrugged. "She'll probably only come with us as far as Midgard, but I get the feeling she's more powerful than she looks. If she sticks with us, it could be useful."

"Never seen a fairy fight before, but meh. Do as you want." Regent shrugged.

"Thank you _so much_ for your permission, oh great Regent." I drawled sarcastically.

"You're very welcome, dork." Regent puffed himself up in faux-pride.

We both laughed after a moment. I'd missed this, since I betrayed the Undersiders for the second time. I just hoped that the others were alright wherever they were. Lisa, Aisha, Rachel and Brian were hopefully alright by this point and I wouldn't have to see them in Yggdrasil anytime soon.

 _A Few Days Later_

 _Streets of Hvergelmir_

"A shrine to Yliaster?" I looked at Karen with surprise. "I would have thought that they were all destroyed."

"The Realm Lord doesn't take kindly to the internal warfare of the temples in his city, so he let it be known quite some time ago that anyone who attempted to start a fight to do with divine warfare inside the city would find that religion of theirs banned from Hvergelmir." The fairy replied. I'd told her about my connection with Yliaster as soon as she'd finished dancing around in joy at the sight of my [World Pass] a few days ago. "So, after the first three idiots got the open worship of their gods banned from the city, no one is willing to push him. Especially not that new guy Myriad. I can lead you there if you want."

"Sure." I nodded. "What's the difference between a temple and a shrine, aside from the size?"

"Hm? Oh, the difference is that the range of services that you can get are much smaller at a shrine compared to a temple." Karen answered as she led me through the streets. "You can only communicate with your god or goddess once a month and the quests are rarely that good at a shrine. At a temple you can do all that, and get your weapons and armour blessed, receive special quests and teleport to any other temple of that faith in the Realm you are in, for a proper offering of course."

"I do need to speak to Yliaster." I said with a growl. "We need to discuss sending people into danger without a proper damned warning!"

"Try not to make her angry with you." Karen warned me. "Having your patron deity angry at you is never a good situation."

"I'll do my best." I grimaced. I hated it, but she had a point. Besides, this isn't entirely bad situation, so far anyway. I wouldn't have met Regent and Karen if it wasn't for being 'bounced' off the Temple of Yliaster's anti-teleportation shield, so every cloud has a silver lining.

When we got to it, the Shrine of Yliaster was very well hidden. Down a small cul-de-sac and through an alley, there was a small building about the size of a modest bungalow. Built from what looked like a stone similar to obsidian except tinted blue. It seemed to exude a calm shadow that denied neither light nor darkness.

"What does that carving around the door mean?" I asked Karen.

"It's Lady Yliaster's name and a few of her titles." The fairy answered after glancing at them. "The Silent Lady of the Shadows, the Quiet Shadow, the Lurking Shadow, and the Untainted Shadow…the last one mentioned here is the most common epithet attributed to her though…the Ever-present and All-Knowing Lady of Twilight."

"She might want to rethink that last one if she let herself get usurped." I muttered quietly.

The door of the shrine was open, and the entire building had an air of neglect that bespoke of it being abandoned for quite some time. Evidently the last priest or priestess who had been here had either fled in fear of his/her life or abandoned it to go to Myriad. And I didn't know which of those the worst option was.

At the very back of the shrine was a modest altar. If this was anything to go by, Yliaster and her clergy were not into ostentatiousness or frivolities. It was capped by a statuette of Yliaster, wreathed in an aura of shadows and bearing a staff and dagger, one in each hand.

The only sign that the stone carving might have been expensive was the exquisite workmanship that had been put into it. The statuette was very well carved and looked almost lifelike. I half-expected the mini-Yliaster to start talking to me.

"So how do I talk to her?" I asked Karen.

"Put a coin at the base of the statue; the higher the value, the longer you'll be able to talk." Karen directed. "Then you have to pray and wait for her to respond. As she has almost no followers left, she'll probably respond to you immediately. I'll wait outside while you talk to her."

With that, the fairy tugged the outer door shut, leaving me alone in the twilight.

"Loads of help there." I sighed and pulled a gold coin out of my Item Box, laying it at Yliaster's robed and sandaled feet. Placing my hands together, I bowed my head and whispered, "Yliaster. Um…if I _am_ your Chosen, please speak to me. We need to talk."

 **{Certainly, Taylor.}** A voice said in my head. **{You only had to ask.}**

Forcing down my instinctual flinch at my mind being spoken into, I said. "Yliaster. Do tell: why is it that you neglected to tell me that you were usurped here on Yggdrasil?"

 **{Because I did not know.}** The Dimensional Supervisor admitted. **{I have neglected my Yggdrasilian persona for some time, letting my priesthood and miracle system function without me while I dealt with the dimensional anomalies caused by Zion and Eve's presence in my sector. In that short amount of times, a mere forty years, Myriad arose and usurped my place, and I did not know before I sent you to Yggdrasil. It is indeed my own fault that you have once more been sent into a situation where you are in deadly danger and for that, you have my abject apologies.}**

"'Sorry' doesn't really cut it in this situation." I bit out harshly. "I don't know if you've noticed, but this is probably the only remaining Shrine of yours left in Yggdrasil's Nine Realms, and you only have your hidden temple left otherwise. I have no idea where it is, just so you know."

 **{The temple…I cannot tell you where it is, for fear of Myriad overhearing me.}** The usurped Goddess admitted. **{You do not need to find it in order to recover my status as the Deity of the Shadows, however. Myriad has a time limit to destroy all of my Temples and Shrines, a time limit with only a year left to go. Once that time has expired, he will lose his godhead and fall back down to being a demigod, with most of his Classes gone. I will then be restored as the Goddess of Shadows in truth and in fact.}**

"That's all very good and all, but the word around here is that someone from the 'good' or 'bad' gods alliance is helping him." I pointed out, eying the gold piece. It was being consumed, slowly but surely. I estimated I had about five minutes left. "Do you have any idea how hard it'll be to keep an eye on the follower of every single possible god who comes near me? I'm going to be talking flak from both sides of the fence here! It's only going to be a matter of time before someone finds out about our connection and tries to kill me for it! I'm guessing that a Chosen of a God is important?"

 **{Very.}** Yliaster replied grimly. **{A God or Goddess very rarely selects a mortal to be a Chosen because if they are killed too soon, the power of that deity is severely reduced. If they live long enough though, the power of that deity is increased by the legends and acclaim of their Chosen. I chose you because even without any of this nonsense with Myriad happening, you would have carved out quite the legend with the lifespan as a Shadow Elf. With Myriad here, I am sorry to say that things will be difficult for you.**

 **{That being said, you need not worry overmuch about the majority of the followers of other gods.}** Yliaster continued. **{There is a tacit agreement between the Gods of Yggdrasil that only a Chosen may kill a Chosen once their status is known, and there are only a dozen Chosen, including yourself, in the Nine Realms at the moment. Most of them are either in Asgard or Vanaheimr, with about four scattered throughout the other Realms. Be careful should you go to Midgard, as there is definitely one there.}**

"Great. And which gods do you think might have helped Myriad?" I grumbled.

 **{Loki is always a strong contender for stirring up trouble; he is the God of Chaos and Mischief, after all.}** The Goddess mused. **{He's just about the only one of the Æsir or Vanir who might do such a thing. That leaves the gods who reside in other realms. Several of the Olympians, a few from Ra's lot…about a couple of dozen all told. I'll leave a list when our session ends. Out of curiosity, what Level are you right now?}**

"Level 20." I answered with a little pride. "Not bad, considering Niflheim isn't conductive to my Job Class."

 **{True enough. That's still enough for me to leave you with a gift for your hard effort, although I'm limited in what I can give you by the fact that it's only a Shrine.}** Yliaster said apologetically. **{I take you plan to go to Midgard soon?}**

"Yes. Sometime in the next few days." I confirmed.

 **{Good. As it so happens this isn't the only Shrine I have left; there's still one other in Midgard, in the Holy City of the Gods, at the foot of Mount Olympus.}** The Shadow Goddess informed me. **{The destruction of Shrines and Temples there is forbidden on pain of the god responsible for issuing the orders being Quelled.}**

"Quelled?" I blinked. "What's that?"

 **{It is when a God or Goddess is overwhelmed and sealed by the overwhelming force of the combined powers of at least ten other deities of similar or greater power.}** Yliaster explained. **{In order to punish a God, you must overwhelm them, or the result will be a stalemate. The power of the seal depends on the crime of the god, but it will typically last for a decade at least. The reason Myriad got away with it was because he destroyed my Temple there himself** _ **before**_ **he ascended to godhood. My Shrines, as you may have noticed, are hidden however, and he could not find the one in the Holy City before he ascended. Now he cannot risk any of his followers destroying it due to his widespread destruction of my other Shrines. No other god would believe that he didn't order it done if it were destroyed because of his actions.}**

"So his actions are backfiring on him? Good." I huffed. "What're you planning on doing to Myriad once he loses his godhead?"

 **{Nothing if he swears a blood oath to never seek out any way of attaining apotheosis ever again so long as he lives.}** Yliaster answered with a mental feeling equivalent to a shrug. **{If he refuses, I'll petition my good friend Hades to cast him into Tartarus. He will never survive there.}**

Ruthless, but necessary.

"We're almost out of time." I said, looking at the coin; there was only a thin sliver left.

 **{Oh. Yes, you're right. Listen, beware the worshipers of Loki at all costs; even if he isn't responsible for helping and guiding Myriad, he still dislikes me enough to hinder me on the principal of the matter.}** The goddess said hurriedly. **{Odin isn't exactly fond of me either, but if you leave him and his worshipers alone, he'll ignore your existence. Make sure you come to the Shrine in Midgard and tell me what you've been up to as well!}**

With that, the coin vanished, and a scroll landed in its place. I picked it up to see what it was.

" **[Job Class Tutelary Scroll: Shadow Maverick]** …?" I muttered with a raised an eyebrow. "Interesting…"

 **OK, so for everyone who HASN'T read the AN at the top of my latest chapter of Issei: The Gamer's Gear, I am taking some time off to write some more, and my schedule restarts on August the 15** **th** **. This is for two reasons: One, I am expecting my PC to break down, as it has for the past four years in a row. And Two, I have a friend coming over with whom I am going to share my PC with.**

 **Out of interest, do you all think I should start a new asylum when this one reaches 100 chapters?**


	98. Born Anew Arc End

**Born Anew Arc End (Original chapter Chapter 92)**

 **\- [Shadow Maverick]: A Class that emphasizes the 'Jack of All Trades' nature of the basic [Rogue] Job Class whilst also adding a Magic Caster element to it to provide greater flexibility to it. It is a more advanced Job Class than a [Rogue] that provides several bonuses, including some rare spells.**

Had Yliaster read my mind? This was exactly the kind of class I was looking for. Not only that, it was loaded into a Tutelary Scroll, bound with a golden ribbon. From what a helpful popup said, this kind of scroll was very rare and must have strained the capabilities of the Shrine for the Usurped Goddess to give it to me.

 **[Job Class Tutelary Scrolls]** were so rare because they automatically allowed you to level up without needing to max out another Job Class first. So long as you fulfilled the basic criteria for the Class in the Scroll (it could be a book or even an object for Racial Class Changes), you could use it at once. In this case, the only requirements were that I had to be both a Shadow Elf of some description and be at least Level 15. Done and done.

Storing the scroll in my Item Box for the moment, I headed out of the Shrine, to have Karen land lightly on my shoulder as I stepped out of the door.

"So, did you have a good talk with your Goddess?" she asked.

"I got some things cleared up." I said vaguely. "She rewarded me for my efforts so far and told me that all I need to do is stop Myriad from destroying her last Shrines and Temple for a year before he gets the boot. A gold coin really doesn't get you far in a shine, does it?"

"I wouldn't know; I know so much about Shrines and Temples because a friend of mine in Alfheim became a Priestess for some goddess or other." Karen shrugged lightly. "Before I left, she used to bore me to death with all kinds of details about how temples and shrines worked. She used to be relaxed about things, but becoming a priestess made her such a stiff!"

"That isn't entirely uncommon with the clergy." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but it sucked." The fairy pouted cutely.

I chuckled and gently patted her on the head, making her protest petulantly that 'she was not a pet, dammit!'

"So are you all ready to leave?" I asked.

"Yep. Give the word and I'm gone." Karen said, still pouting at my head patting.

"Day after tomorrow at the gates, bright and early…ok, not-so bright, but still early, ack, you know what I mean." I said, stumbling over my words, making Karen giggle.

When I returned to the Drunken Goose (which I would be sad to leave. The place really was excellent value for money and was comfortable to live in) I immediately headed to my room and learned the [Shadow Maverick] Job Class. Just about the only downside was that my EXP progress bar to the next Job Class level was reset to zero, but that was fair.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **You are now a LV1 [Shadow Maverick]!**

 **You have learned the following Skills and Spells:**

 **\- Skill: [Lock Picking I]**

 **\- Skill: [Pickpocket I]**

 **\- Skill: [Acrobatics I]**

 **\- Skill: [Agility Up I]**

 **\- Skill: [Dexterity Up I]**

 **\- Skill: [Backstab I]**

 **\- Skill: [Knife Throwing Mastery I]**

 **\- Skill: [Full Potential I]**

 **\- Skill: [Short Arms Mastery I]**

 **\- Skill: [Luck Up I]**

 **\- Skill: [Sleight of Hand I]**

 **\- Spell: [Shadow Weapons] (Tier 4)**

 **\- Spell: [Fear from the Shadows] (Tier 3)**

 **\- Spell: [Shadow Grasp] (Tier 4)**

 **\- Spell: [Shadow Steps] (Tier 4)**

 **\- Spell: [Shadow Body] (Tier 5)**

 **The following Skills have been Levelled Up:**

 **\- Skill: [Dagger Mastery III] has become [Dagger Mastery IV]!**

 **\- Skill: [Shadow Aura IV] has become [Shadow Aura V]!**

 **\- Skill: [Blessing of Yliaster III] has become [Blessing of Yliaster IV]!**

The process was very weird. It suddenly felt like my body was even lighter than before and I literally _felt_ luckier. The connection I had to Yliaster was strong enough that I could feel it now as well, and the spells I now had were very cool.

 **[Shadow Weapons]** let me create weapons out of shadows to use in close combat, so I could technically never truly be disarmed. **[Fear from the Shadows]** was a combination of Shadow Magic and Illusion Magic that caused the shadows around my target to strike fear into their heart, while **[Shadow Grasp]** both immobilised and caused Crush and Cold damage to the target. **[Shadow Steps]** let me create platforms of shadow in mid-air for me to run on, while **[Shadow Body]** temporarily turned my body into an intangible Shadow. I couldn't attack while under its effect, but it boosted my stealth skills by quite a bit and it required special magic spells or items in order to attack me in that state.

I also noticed the skills **[Short Arms Mastery]** and **[Knife Throwing Mastery]**. The latter was obvious as to its application, but the former less so. A 'short' weapon was anything the same size or smaller than a short sword, so daggers, short swords, short maces, blackjacks and the like…all of these were affected by the skill. It kinds felt like cheating to have **[Dagger Mastery]** and **[Short Arms Mastery]** at the same time, but if I was allowed to take the class, I can't see why anyone would object.

This meant I'd have to spend some money to buy some throwing daggers though; no point in having a skill and not having the right tools for the job. Ditto for lockpicks. That could come in very useful one day. Actually…I could probably get both from Regent's people.

I smiled grimly. I would survive in this new world, and no one, not a bunch of priests or even a god, was going to end my new life. I would show them that Taylor Hebert would not lie down and die.

 _Two Days Later_

 _Entrance to the Bifröst, Niflheim_

"That priest was too pleased with himself yesterday." Regent grumbled to me as we walked towards the large golden gate that facilitated travel between worlds. It was a short ten minute walk from the Temple of Týr and stood at least the height of the Statue of Liberty, as well as just as wide.

"I know. You've said that almost every hour since yesterday." I answered. Regent and I were walking at the front of a small group of his Regency. As I was taking Karen with me, only nine of his troops could come with us, and Regent had chosen the best to come with us before dissolving his gang and sending the rest to allies of his in the Outer gangs.

My equipment was basically unchanged from when I had set foot inside Hvergelmir, with the exception of my belt. Since my new Job Class was added, I now almost never wore the **[Belt of Transient Twilight]** , unless it actually was twilight, instead wearing the newly-acquired **[Belt and Bandolier of the Ardent Thief]** instead. It both upped my Agility and Dexterity by a small amount and had sheaths on both the belt and bandolier for a grand total of sixteen throwing knives, all of which were **[Steel Throwing Knives]** , cheap, disposable tools that were nevertheless effective at the task for which they were designed. It also held my lockpicks, which was doubly useful.

Regent had a high-collared cape and a fancier version of his mask compared to when I had met him, and he'd bought a brand-new scepter that could, a few times a day, act like his old one back on Earth Bet. In other words, it could fire a Lightning Magic spell, **[Shock Burst]** , about four or five times a day. As that was a Tier 2 spell, it was pretty good amount.

Karen, who was hiding inside of my hood to keep warm, was dressed as warmly as she could, but little fairies were almost naturally opposed to clothes that were too form concealing, apparently, which made traveling in Niflheim very difficult for her, as she hated cold weather gear.

" _How did you ever do quests and the like?"_ I had asked her when she informed me of this.

She had told me that she had only run Quests inside of Hvergelmir itself, which had involved quite a bit of fighting, much to my lack of surprise. The city was a fairly rowdy place, almost as bad as, and yet better than, Brockton Bay.

"I-It's f-f-f- _freezing_!" the fairy wailed in my ear.

"Bear with it. We'll be out of this place in the next few minutes." I consoled her.

That taken care of, I turned my mind to the matter of the package and letter that we had picked up yesterday. The package in question was about the size of a shoebox and was quite light. The letter was vellum and bore the sword and halo of Týr on the wax seal that kept it shut. I had no clue what either of them contained, but I had a bad feeling that I was not going to like the contents, whatever they were.

"So…what do we do now?" I asked as we arrived at the front of the Bifröst Gate.

"As we put ourselves into parties before we left the city, all you need to do is take out the passes." Karen said, wrapping my hair around her like a blanket as she did so. "The gates'll open and suck us in. We'll be in Midgard before you can count to ten."

"Is it likely to be day or night there at this point?" I asked.

"The time is the same across all Nine Realms, so it'll be midday." Regent said, checking a pocket watch he fished out of his Item Box. "If you have a way of saving your eyesight, then do it."

Nodding, I raised one hand palm up and said, " **[Create Item]!** "

In a flash of magic, the shadows congregated in my hand and left a pair of black sunglasses. They were unenchanted by anything but the magic that bound the shadows that made them up and some hardening spells to prevent them from being smashed by being dropped. Because of this, they counted as a cosmetic item, which was pretty damn cool.

"Top Gun sunglasses?" Regent asked skeptically.

"They're called _aviator_ sunglasses." I corrected him with a huff. "Let's get this over with."

Forming up into our separate parties, Regent and I both took out our [World Pass] bracelets. The rainbow-coloured jewel at the center of them flashed and, with a mighty groan, the enormous doors leading into the Bifröst creaked open outwards.

A golden glow surrounded each of our parties and then we were suddenly dragged into the Bifröst. It was like being sucked through a giant straw, except none of us were tumbling around like idiots. Apparently the light we were surrounded in kept us stable. Good to know.

Hastily slipping on my sunglasses, I braced myself to arrive in Midgard. The next instant, we were out of the other side and the gates slammed shut behind us. The sun was blazing down, making me very glad that I had my sunglasses on. Even with them on, I flinched at the brightness.

"Whoa." Regent said appreciatively. I followed his gaze and gasped myself.

The Bifröst Gate was set at the top of a large flight of stairs carved into the side of a mountain. At the bottom of the stairway was a largish town surrounded by a curtain wall.

"That's the town of Gatekeeper." Karen said as she flew out of my hood after untangling herself from my hair. "Ah, it's been so long since I was in the light!"

"Isn't it pretty…small?" I asked. Compared to Hvergelmir, it was positively tiny.

"It's about the average for a large town in Midgard." The fairy informed me. "Don't judge places here by the standard set by Hvergelmir; that place holds almost the entire population of Niflheim inside it, so it has to be that size."

Hvergelmir was about the same size as New York City itself, with the enormous Curtain Walls (yes, they were so damn large that they needed to be capitalized) adding a third of a kilometer to the size of the city in addition to that.

"Welp, beats a bunch of mud huts." Regent said philosophically. "Let's jam."

"That again?" I rolled my eyes. I still followed him. "So, how far away is the Holy City? That's where the Central Temple for Týr is, isn't it?"

"Yep. In Midgard, the Temple of Týr is in the Holy City." The fairy nodded as she fluttered alongside me. "Out of all Nine Realms, it is the only one which has the temple away from the Bifröst Gate. I think it's mostly to give people who acquire a [World Pass] something to do to pass the time before they leave Midgard."

"You mean it's a month to travel to the Holy City?" I grumbled. "We're gonna have to buy a horse and wagon or something. No way am I _walking_ that far."

"Agreed." Regent said fervently. "We'll have to scout the market first. That'll take at least a couple of days. Hey, midget, you know a good inn in this place?"

"I'm Karen, not a midget!" the fairy yelled at him. "And yes, there's one that should be free right about now. This time of year is the quiet travelling season. Most people prefer to come and go at the end of autumn rather than the end of spring."

"Why?" Regent asked.

"No clue. That's just the way it is, it seems." Karen shrugged. "A lot of them are gods from Asgard and Vanaheimr and their entourages. They have free passes to spend one year out of every three here in Midgard, which they spend doing almost whatever they want before going back to their home Realm at the end of the year."

"The gods sure have it easy here." I shook my head. "Are we likely to run into any?"

"If a god or goddess is physically present in the same Realm as you are, you can feel them up to ten miles away." Karen said. "It's a very recognizable and unmistakable sensation, so there's no confusing it with something else. The stronger the god, the further you can feel them and the more oppressive the feeling is. The stronger gods from other Realms never deign to descend to Midgard though; I think the last time Odin was here was a millennia or so ago."

Well at least the strong ones stayed where they were supposed to be.

After that, we spent the majority of the day scouting out the town and finding an Inn, the Open Gate. It was actually just as good as the Drunken Goose, although the name was slightly better.

At the end of the day, I paid for a room for both myself and Karen, while Regent looked after his troops. Lying back on the bed, I glanced over at the small hammock that had Karen snoring away like nobody's business. Cute.

I rubbed at my head as something nagged at me. My mind may have been headed by Yliaster, but my memories, especially those of the Golden Morning, were hazy and incomplete. It didn't help that Yliaster had clearly snuck some terminology and knowledge into my mind while she was healing it, which muddied the waters further. The mind was resilient, however, and I had been putting pieces together, slowly but surely, for weeks now.

Still, something was up. My memories were still cloudy after my Final Trigger, to my lack of surprise. I doubted that I'd ever be able to fully restore those ones. Still, the time up to three months before that was painfully slow at being restored. Some memories were crystal clear, others were so-so and others were as clear as a shattered pane of glass. The memory that was bothering me was one of the last ones. It had something to do with an oil rig, I think.

"Ngh!" A twinge of pain lanced through my head as I tried to remember. OK, so my own mind was saying that it was a no-go for the moment. Great.

"Dammit." I muttered before turning over and trying to get to sleep. It took quite some time to happen.

 _Three Days Later_

 _Planes of the Gate, Midgard_

"Well, at least it's a covered wagon." I said philosophically as I eyed the trundling form of our wagon as it trundled along. It was a modestly large one, able to fit three people in it at a time in addition to our provisions. Water wasn't an issue as two of Regent's men had water magic.

For the rest of us, we all had horses. Including the two that drew the wagon, we had _nine_ horses. Buying them had gouged out Regent's savings…or it would have if I hadn't stepped in to share the burden of the cost. Then there was the feed, tack and the rest of the stuff that horses needed. When we reached a town further down the line, we'd have to do a quest or two to rebuild our finances.

"Why can't I drive the wagon?" Regent whined. He had no skill at horseback riding. Well, neither did I.

"Because you get bored and tease the horses, boss." A female human said with an exasperated expression on her face. "Don't you remember that job we did not long after you formed the Regency when you smacked the getaway cart's horse on the flank and sent it stampeding down the street?"

"…shut up." Regent pouted.

I laughed. "Looks like your gang knows you pretty well."

"You shush too."

We continued down the packed-earth dirt road that meandered away from Gatekeeper for about five minutes before a circular wall of flame-like shadows erupted around us, trapping us in place.

"What the hell?!" I shouted. I could sense the power of those 'flames'; they were either directly from the Plane of Shadows or they were made by a Shadow mage of some description. This could only mean one thing…a minion of Myriad had appeared.

"I am the Chosen of Myriad." A deep echoing male voice boomed from the shadows ahead of us. A skeletal face gradually swam into focus as the man advanced into visibility. "You, Shadow Mage…do you serve Lord Myriad or Yliaster!"

The voice was familiar…too familiar. I cried out in pain and clutched my head as my memories shifted and the battle of the Rig now swum back into complete clarity…including the list of casualties I had seen afterwards.

"B-Brian…?!" I choked out in disbelief, tears falling down my cheeks as I gazed at the masked form of someone whose death I had completely forgotten until now. "Grue? I-Is that _you_?"

That startled him. "How-?!"

"Holy shit, it _is_ him." Regent laughed. "Long time no see. Bled on any white couches lately? I _liked_ that damn couch, you know."

Grue did a double take. " _Regent?!_ Holy… _you_ were reincarnated too?!"

"Yep. Guess who this here is?" my ex (and current, I suppose) teammate nodded to me. "The dork herself!"

"Dork…?" Grue trailed off before he actually staggered back. "N-No way… _Taylor?!_ "

 **And I'll end it there. To be continued in another arc if I feel like it. ^_^**

 **As to whether I'll make another Asylum, I'll write up to chapter 200, and then start a new one at that point. If I manage to write that many. Then again, the empirical evidence of the current Asylum's chapter numbers indicates the possibility is high.**


	99. Flying Free Chapter 2

**Flying Free Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 67)**

 _Hebert Residence_

Blinking in surprise, I stared at the dully purring phone in my hand in shock. I had just been on the phone to Emma as her Dad was taking her to a modelling job of some kind when she'd abruptly been cut off. I had a really, really bad feeling about this.

I had cheered up a lot since I had gained my powers and Emma and I had become even closer as she designed my costume, as impossible as it sounded. We had already been like sisters, but now we were so much closer than before that I was kinda giddy about it.

That something was possibly happening to my sister-in-all-but-blood made my blood freeze.

It might be a leap of logic for someone living elsewhere, but in Brockton Bay, never attribute to accident or stupidity something for which you can possibly blame the gangs for. If you did that, you were right nine times out of ten.

After a moment of paralyzed indecision, I leapt up and ran to my room, ripping off my clothes except for my panties and looking for the costume that Emma and I had assembled over the last few weeks. She had used her connections in the modelling business to grab a few sets of things that she had modelled in the past, as well as buying a few expensive things that she had passed off to her parents as an 'attempt at an Intervention on Taylor', whatever she had meant by _that_.

First to go on was a pair of spandex shorts, swiftly followed by a sports bra. Me actually had enough boobage to need a sports bra was something that I had never thought would happen. Yay, powers.

I slid on a knee length skirt next, one that was red with light blue vertical stripes running down it. A red t-shirt followed it, along with a blue jacket. Both of these last items had been modified to allow my wings in my Changer state to pop out without ripping through the fabric, as well as giving them enough space to flap so I could fly.

Yes, I could fly. Very quickly, as it so happened. I wasn't an Alexandria-type by any means, but I _was_ able to fly, so one out of three isn't too bad.

Gloves and thigh-high (heelless) boots took care of my hands and feet. On my head, I wore a mountaineering helmet with two small holes drilled into it to allow my antennae to grow through them unrestrictedly. As for my face, I work a pair of ski goggles that Emma had bought as a part of a special offer on winter clothing (weird) and finished with a bandanna worn around my lower face similar to Miss Militia.

Dressed and ready, I opened the window and threw myself out of it, Changing immediately and speeding off to find Emma and her dad. Fortunately, I knew where to look. The studio that the modelling agency had rented out for this shoot was deep in ABB territory, so the people responsible were almost certainly the ABB.

Added to that, Alan Barnes was someone who always took the shortest route between two points, so I knew the general location of where they were likely to be, given that Emma had rung me ten minutes into the journey. I started at the Barnes family home (otherwise known as my second home) and started moving along the route that Alan would have taken. Thank god Emma told me where she was going to be working today!

"C'mon, c'mon…where the hell _are_ you?!" I muttered anxiously as I zipped across traffic, ignoring the gawping features of passersby and drivers. It was when I zipped down a less beaten path that I heard a scream…in a very familiar voice.

"Emma!"

 _With Emma and Alan Barnes_

Ignoring my scream, the ABB guy asked again, "So what'll it be, little girl? Eye or hair?"

"Do her hair." The female gangbanger holding my struggling father down sneered. "We're behind on our quota anyway."

Panic raced through me, along with fear and quite a bit of terror. I knew that white girls captured by the ABB did not live for long afterwards, sold as whores abroad. No…no! I couldn't let that happen! Taylor needed me! My family needed me! I couldn't let this happen!

Yet, as the knife drew nearer and nearer, I knew it was hopeless. I was going to be taken, and nothing and no one was going to come and rescue me.

 _Helphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelp…!_

My eyes rolled back.

 **[Destination]**

 **[Agreement]**

 **[Alignment]**

 **[Agreement]**

 **[Resonance: Intangibility, Transformation]**

 **[Integration?]**

 **[Agreement]**

 **[Intersection!]**

 _With Taylor_

I picked myself off the rooftop, somewhat confused. One minute I was flying, the next I was lying on the top of a building. What the hell just happened?

Shaking off my confusion and putting it aside for the moment, I reactivated my powers and fluttered up, spotting about five or so ABB grunts, along with two very familiar figures, one of whom was lying back against the side of the car as one of the ABB came at her with a knife!

"NO!" I roared and fired off a blast of air waves at the man with a mighty flap of my wings. They flew through the air and slammed into him, sending him flying over Alan Barnes' car and into a wall. As he slid down it to land on the pavement, the others looked up and spotted me.

"CAPE!" one shouted.

I swooped in to hover above them. Focusing, I fired a rainbow-colored beam from my eyes that slammed into another ABB grunt, knocking her away from Alan Barnes, who wasted no time running to his daughter's side.

"Get in the car and get home. I'll take care of these scumbags." I told him with a low grunt.

"R-Right!" he said as he swept Emma into the car before heading for the driver's seat.

"Don't let them get away!" one of the remaining idiots shouted.

Opening my mouth, I shrieked at him. For whatever reason, whenever I used this move, I could only affect one target at a time, when you'd think a soundwave would affect anything and anyone within its path. Powers are so weird.

Anyway, being hit with it made the guy clutch his head in pain and stumble off. Three down, two to go. Alan used their distraction to peel his car away like a bat out of hell.

"Fuck you, freak!" one of them screamed and pulled a pistol from his pants (why do these people keep them inside their pants? Aren't they afraid of an accidental discharge hitting their junk?) . As he pulled the trigger, I lashed out with my mind, my willpower rather, sending the bullet careening off into the ground a foot away from the muzzle.

"No freaking way!" he shouted. I lashed out again with my will, knocking the weapon from his hand.

"Get lost." I said, gesturing away. "Take your friends with you. If I see you five hanging around again, I'll string you up by your feet outside the police station!"

The two gangbangers nodded frantically and scrambled to grab their fallen friends. I snorted and exercised my will for a third time, smashing the gun to pieces before turning and flying towards the Barnes home.

Landing on the lawn, I crossed to the front door and knocked. After a moment, Mr. Barnes peered out suspiciously before letting me in.

"You have no idea how thankful to you I am." He told me as he ushered me inside, closing the door behind me, being careful of my wings. "If you hadn't arrived when you had, those…those _monsters_ would have taken my daughter from me."

"I'm glad to have helped." I said with a nod, still keeping up my fake voice. "How is your daughter?"

"Not good." He admitted. "She's almost completely unresponsive, even to her mother."

"ALAN!" the shout from Zoe Barnes made the man move so fast that I had to wonder if he had a parahuman power of his own. He sped up the stairs, with me following at a more sedate pace.

"Good god!" I heard him exclaim from the door of Emma's bedroom. Peering around him when I made it to him, I gasped myself.

The person I presumed to be Emma was a pure black outline, surrounded by a purple mist-like aura. Zoe was standing nearby, looking at her daughter in shock.

"She's got powers." I said in disbelief.

"Who are you?!" the frantic woman demanded when Alan moved aside to let her see me.

I looked around and, satisfied that all of the curtains were closed, removed my helmet, goggles and bandanna before reverting back to my normal appearance.

"T-Taylor?!" Alan whispered in shock.

"Emma was on the phone to me when you were attacked." I explained softly. "I costumed up and headed out to find you because I had a bad feeling that you and she were in trouble. I'm sorry that I was right."

Just then, I was tackled by Zoe, who was crying softly. "My baby…you saved my baby…thank you Taylor!"

"She's as good as my sister." I assured her. "I wouldn't let anything happen to her if I can help avoid it. Still...I never expected her to get powers. More than that, powers like mine."

"She was just staring blankly at the ceiling, and then…this." Zoe said as she recovered. "What's happened to her?"

"She gained powers today, Aunt Zoe." I said as I made her stand back. "I don't know how it happens, but it seems to be trauma or stress that triggers the powers. She must have been scared out of her mind. I guess she was also thinking of me when it happened and her powers were patterned after mine…"

"You transformed into a humanoid butterfly, not…whatever this is." Alan pointed out shakily.

"There's a category of Parahuman powers called Changer." I explained. "It covers any sort of power that changes the form of the user's body from one thing to another. That's what I am, and it seems like Emma is as well. Let me see…"

I picked up a piece of paper, scrunched it up and threw it at Emma. It passed right through her.

"I thought so. Whatever it is she Changed into has a Breaker-type power." I nodded. Then I explained, "A Breaker is a Cape who has a body that violates the law of physics in some way or another; changing into shadows like the Vigilante Shadow Stalker, having a body like rubber…stuff like that. Emma was being threatened with a knife, so she subconsciously wanted, and got, a power that makes ordinary weapons useless against her."

"Is that how powers work?" Alan asked in puzzlement.

I spread my hands helplessly. "I haven't a clue. I've only had my power for just under a month. What we have to do is snap Emma out of this. She's probably having a waking dream about what happened. I'll try and do something to get her out of it."

I made to move forward, but Zoe stopped me. "Taylor, when I went close, that purple mist made me feel ill."

That made me mutter a curse. She had also probably wanted to keep people (the gangbangers) away from her as well, thus the damned poison gas. Urgh, this was gonna be a pain.

"Emma! Emma, please wake up!" I called to the insensate form of my best friend. "Emma! C'mon, wake up already!"

"Tay…lor…?" the voice coming from the ghostly form was definitely Emma's, but it was also doubled up, as if it were being echoed.

"Yes, it's me!" I was relieved that my words were getting through to her. "Emma, you have to wake up…just open your eyes and sit up."

"OK…" she said and suddenly a wide set of half-moon eyes snapped open on the head of the shadowy figure, which then say up. "Uh…Tay…? What the heck happened to me?"

"You've got powers." I told her. "Dangerous ones. You're surrounded by a poisonous mist that can hurt us. Focus on your real appearance and concentrate on becoming that."

"B-But…what about the gangbangers…?!" Emma whimpered.

"I drove them off, Ems." I said soothingly. "You know I can handle them. And we're in your house. If they want to get to you, they'll have to go through me and your parents first. You are safe here."

Swallowing (or at least making a gulping sound), Emma did as I instructed. One moment, a shadowy form was sitting on the bed, then next instant, there was the form of my best friend.

In three strides, I crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. "I've got you." I whispered. "Let it out."

With a great sob, Emma clung to me and started crying. Alan and Zoe joined us, wrapping their daughter into a hug. Once Anna got back, she joined in after being filled in about the basics of what had almost befallen her sister. Zoe and Allan kept my identity as the Cape who had helped save Emma a secret from her for the moment. Not because they didn't trust her, but because she was to excitable; I was still pretty certain that she wouldn't shut up about it once she found out.

 _Elsewhere_

Shadow Stalker, otherwise known as Sophia Hess, spat out a dozen curses. The damn butterfly girl had flown too fast for her to track, making her pursuit a waste of time.

' _That redhead fuckin' Triggered!_ ' the vigilante thought bitterly. ' _If that butterfly bitch hadn't shown up, I coulda had someone to who understands! Next time I see her, she's getting a quarrel in the leg!_ '

She had known that being near someone Triggering would make any Parahuman fall unconscious for a handful of seconds; it was the so-called 'Trigger Shock' effect. Asking a [Verified Cape] on PHO had gotten her that answer. Sophia had never to actually be near enough to someone Triggering that she would feel it though!

Another Parahuman, Triggering in front of her…it was a sign, wasn't it? Then again, the vigilante hadn't gotten to see if the girl would fight back or not thanks to that _fucking_ butterfly girl!

' _A_ butterfly _…fucking_ seriously _?!_ ' she scoffed to herself. No way could anyone who turned into a butterfly actually be strong. She had seen what the girl had used against the five members of the ABB and was not impressed. A gust of wind, a lightshow, a shout and a bit of weak TK. Pfft, _please_. It might work against weak ABB punks but that did not make her a Predator. The butterfly was Prey, pure and simple.

At some point, she'd express that to the bitch personally.

First things first though; she had to track down that redhead. Then she'd have to see exactly how much of a Predator she was. Shadow Stalker had planned on hitting the Empire 88, maybe interrogate a couple, but for once, those racist scumbags were not a primary concern.

Well, not unless they got in her way, at any rate.

 _Next Day_

 _Hebert Home_

"So…you have powers?" Danny asked with a blink.

"Yup." I nodded. "I turn into a humanoid butterfly with odd powers besides."

We were in the living room, with Mr. Barnes and Emma sitting with them.

"And, thanks to those scumbags attacking you… _you_ have powers as well, Emma?" the tall, thin man asked slowly.

"Yep. I turn into some kind of ghost-thing." Emma said in a small voice. Her father gently placed a supportive arm around her.

"I'm…upset that you didn't tell me about getting powers, but I am proud of you for saving Emma." Dann said with a smile. "Well done, Little Owl."

I beamed at the praise.

"I was helpless yesterday, Danny." Alan sighed. "Those…gangbanger scumbags…were going to take my little girl away and probably kill me into the bargain. Who knows what would have happened if Taylor hadn't shown up when she did."

"You should get a gun license and a concealed carry permit." Danny advised his old friend. "If nothing else, it'll help deal with common gangbangers like yesterday. I have both, although I rarely carry it."

"Zoe won't like it…but I think after the fright she got yesterday, she'll go along with it." The divorce lawyer sighed. "Question is…what do we do about Emma and Taylor? They both have powers and Taylor, if nothing else, clearly wants to use them."

"Emma helped get my costume together." I smiled at my sister, who smiled back tremulously. "I told her about my powers first, because I trust her so much. Sorry, Dad."

"It's fine." My Dad shook his head in resigned amusement. "You two are practically joined at the hip and have been since you were in kindergarten. Keeping each other's secrets like that is expected. Still…what do you want to do? Join the Wards?"

I shook my head slightly. "As I said to Emma a while back, they aren't around where you need them to be…like in side streets where the ABB like to kidnap people. The areas of the city that the PRT, Protectorate and Wards cover adds up to less than a third of it…the rich sections, the places that are filled with people from out of town most often. When was the last time the PRT sent a patrol our way? Years ago?"

"You were five, I think." Dad sighed. "I'm not comfortable with the idea of you going out and about on your own, fighting criminals and what not. I only just lost your mother…I don't think I could bear it to lose you as well."

Blinking away tears, I said softly, "What would Mom say?"

Another sigh. "She'd want you to follow your heart." Dad admitted ruefully. "You're just as stubborn as she was."

"I think she gets that from both sides, actually." Alan put in dryly, making both me and Emma giggle.

"Et tu, Alan?" Danny grumbled.

"Just telling it as it is." The lawyer said innocently. A practiced man at his craft, he looked as though butter would not melt in his mouth. Dad grumbled some more.

"Dad…I want to help Tay." Emma said suddenly, looking determined.

"Emma, you don't have to." I said firmly, before Alan could start to argue with her. "You have to mentally recover from the shock of what happened yesterday first. You can help, but not as a teammate until you're OK. Alright?"

"I agree with Taylor." Dad nodded. "No going out as a Cape until you're a hundred percent, Emma. That includes talking to a therapist. In the meantime, you should try to master your powers."

"O…Ok…" the redhead nodded.

"If Emma's are anything like mine, she'll need space." I admitted. "I was basically going off of instinct with what I felt I could do."

"There are a bunch of abandoned warehouses in the Docks area, some that the Dockworker's Association own." Dad smirked. "I think I can have one listed as condemned or something so no one will go near it. That ought to make it acceptable as a training spot."

"Yeah…we also need to add armour or something to Taylor's costume." Alan noted. "It looks good, but it has no ability to protect her. Know anyone that sells Kevlar vests on the low, Danny?"

"I know a couple of guys that fit the bill." Dad nodded. He looked at me and sighed. "I don't like that you're going to be fighting scum like the ABB, Empire 88 and Merchants, but if you insist on doing it, I want you to be as protected as possible. Like hell I'm losing you or Emma to these scumbags."

Warmth filled me at his words. "Thanks Dad." I said.

"What were you thinking about for your Cape name?" Alan asked. "I don't think you want to let the PRT give you one. Even I've heard about Chubster."

I winced. "Yeah…that sucks. I was thinking…"

"Always dangerous." Emma quipped.

"Shush you." I scolded my irksome best friend-slash-sister. "Anyway, I was thinking…I turn into a butterfly and I feel free when I fly…so how about Butterfree?"

 **OK, so the name is VERY obvious. Sue me; I suck at naming things almost as much as Taylor herself does.**

 **Now, a list of attacks used by Taylor in this chapter, whether she realizes she used them or not: [Tailwind], [Air Slash], [Psybeam], [Supersonic] and [Confusion]. She ain't no Pokémon, and can know and use many more than four moves.**

 **Emma, for those who have not guessed, is a Ghastly. It was just about the best fit for her Triggering with both Taylor and Sophia nearby, but maybe some of you disagree. Can she 'evolve' her Changer form into Haunter and then Gengar? Your guess is as good as mine, but probably.**

 **And for everyone wondering, no, they are not Pokégirls in THAT sense. They will not become savage or feral if they don't have sex with someone for a certain amount of time.**


	100. Let's Get Dangerous! Chapter 2

**Let's Get Dangerous! Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 46)**

The room was paralyzed for a moment before Lonnie, like the true dumbass he was, charged towards the obvious Cape (who even had an actual cape!) with a fist drawn back.

"Lonnie, you idiot!" Steve groaned, before running to help his idiot of a friend, with Paulie right behind him.

"The real easy way it is." Darkwing shrugged nonchalantly before leaping into the air and drawing a weapon from her waist. It looked like a gun of some kind, but had a wide nozzle-like muzzle. Still, Steve knew better than to stand in the path of a gun, so he threw himself behind a stack of boxes just as the Cape pulled the trigger, pulling Paulie with him.

 **[Phut]!**

Instead of a bullet, the gun spat out what looked like a canister about the size of a can of soda. Which was plainly impossible due to the fact that there was no way for the thing to be stored inside of the gun, not to mention the fact that the barrel was thinner than the can itself, so it shouldn't be possible for it to have been fired.

' _A fuckin' Tinker!_ ' he realised with a chill down his spine. Only Tinkers could make things that told common sense and physics to take a hike like that.

The canister flew straight ahead and struck Lonnie in the face, breaking his nose. As the man-child howled in pain and staggered back, clutching his face, the canister fell to the ground and started spewing out purple smoke that enveloped him in seconds before dispersing. A few seconds later, Lonnie crashed to the ground face-first, snoring loudly.

"Sleep gas? Fuck we have _got_ to get outta here!" Steve hissed. He had no intentions of being the first notch on the belt of a newbie Cape. He had never heard of any of the gangs with a Cape like this, nor had he heard of any heroes like this crazy chick. No, the best idea was to grab Lonnie and get out of this place.

"You should have thought of that before you decided to commit a crime, criminal." Darkwing said coolly from above him. Steve looked up dumbly and saw the caped figure perched atop the box he was hiding, looking down at him emotionlessly.

"Shit!" he shouted in shock, leaping back and somehow tripping over his own feet, landing on his ass like a moron. Paulie grabbed a nearby crowbar that he had spotted and swung it wildly at the Cape, who jumped over the swing with an almost elegant leap.

Pointing her gun at Paulie, Darkwing pulled the trigger again, this time a set of bolas emerged and wrapped around the man's arms as they swung back the crowbar for another shot.

"Ack!"

Trying to shake off the weighted cord that was wrapped around his arms, Paulie was too distracted to notice Darkwing pulling out and placing something on one hand before approaching him.

"Your fly's open." Darkwing mentioned seriously.

"Huh?" Paulie looked down instinctively and the caped crime fighter drove a solid punch into his solar plexus, the device she had equipped unleashing a small electric shock, dropping him like a stone.

"And then there was one." Darkwing turned to face Steve, who cursed and pulled out his butterfly knife. It had been a gift from Paulie for his birthday a couple of years ago. He never thought he'd have to use it here.

"Stand back, freak!" Steve shouted. "I'm armed!"

"Let's change that, shall we?" Darkwing drawled and fired her gun from the hip. A large glob of blue ooze emerges and flies towards Steve's hand, striking it dead on. Much to his surprise, the would-be gang-leader was flung back with a yell of shock, dragged along behind his arm like it was being pulled by a car. He slammed into the wall with a thud and was stunned.

Shaking his head, Steve looked up to see that the blue goo around his hand, knife and all, was stuck to the wall and was rapidly hardening. He tried to pull his arm out of the goop or even rip the goop off the wall, but was completely unable to even move it.

"Yep, yep, yep. That goo is about as solid as a rock right now." Darkwing twirled her gun before stowing it in its holder at the small of her back, along with removing the knuckleduster-like thing she had used on Paulie and placing it in a slot in her belt. "So then, you and your friends here are going to have a nice little trip to jail, courtesy of me, Darkwing. Please make sure to get my name right when you tell the police and PRT about me, or I will be _very_ upset. I refuse to be the next Chubster, so you and your stooges-"

"Friends!" Steve protested.

"-stooges had better get my name right. Do we _understand_ one another?" the Cape finished somewhat threateningly.

"Y-yeah…I got ya." The boy gulped.

" _Excellent_. Now, I had better get you to the police station." Darkwing nodded briskly, adjusting her hat, which, Steve realised suddenly, hadn't left her head whatsoever during the fight. Fuckin' Capes.

Not fifteen minute later, Steve found himself suspended by his wrists from a cable next to Lonnie and Paulie outside the police station, Darkwing having left on that crazy-looking motorbike not ten seconds ago. As the police officers came out to see what the fuss was, Steve thought one thing rather bitterly.

' _I should have just gone to fuckin' college like Mom wanted me to._ '

 _Later_

 _Darkwing's Secret Base_

Taylor was stoked. She had taken those three morons down like a boss. Not that it was much of an achievement. Two of them had been jocks with all the brainpower of dead moss, while the last one had clearly been out of his depth with the whole 'being a criminal' thing, as well has having to drag the all-but-dead weight of the other two with him.

Pursing her lips, the partially unmasked Cape examined the Shock Duster that she had used on one of the jocks with a critical eye. It had burnt out after only a single use, which was _not_ supposed to happen. If she had to guess, it was the substandard components that she had been forced to use that had caused the brownout. Stupid old rusting cars…

Perhaps scrounging around in old abandoned houses had not been as useful as she had initially thought. Granted, the wiring she had used in the Shock Duster had been the last of the wire she had available and that was because it had been degraded and rusty in places, which was why she had used it for a prototype weapon, as it was only necessary to try out once or so.

Still, she hadn't expected it to literally only work once!

"What a pain!" she complained. Then she sat down on the seat of the Ratcatcher to consider what to do. She had taken the money in the wallets of the three idiots, so that was about a hundred dollars all told. Going into a hardware store as Taylor Hebert was out of the question; that may as well scream 'I'm a Tinker!' to all of the gangs and the PRT. Going in costume…wasn't such a bad idea, actually.

Let's face it, no one would expect a Cape to just turn up and buy things in costume. Mostly because it sounds so utterly ridiculous. Just about the only exceptions might be New Wave, and that's because their identities were public knowledge. Technically, there was no reason that I couldn't do it too.

Aside from the fact that I was likely to be misconstrued as a thief or robber. That would suck majorly. Still, there was nothing I could do except try, right? I'd give it a shot during the weekend. I'd have to plan things out so I wouldn't have anyone shadowing me back to my base afterwards…hmmm.

A Few Days Later

Director Piggot's Office

"So someone dressed as a Cape, the same one who captured three idiots who tried to rob a warehouse, this 'Darkwing' character…walked into a regular hardware store, as well as a computer hardware store, and purchased goods for cash?" Emily Piggot asked, disbelief and skepticism in her voice.

"That would evidently be the case." Armsmaster nodded. The Tinker was standing stiffly in front of her desk.

Piggot sighed and massaged her temples. "Right…so what did 'Darkwing' purchase?"

"Pire, circuit boards and miscellaneous other items from the computer hardware store and a variety of tools from the regular hardware store." Armsmaster answered. "I've sent you an e-mail with the full list attached. "

"I'll look it over later." The Director said. "So what happened afterwards?"

"Darkwing vanished in a large cloud of smoke as he or she walked along the street. I am currently working under the assumption that Darkwing is a Mover, specifically Typhoportation, teleporting with smoke as a medium." The man stated. "If Darkwing is indeed also a Tinker of some flavor, then it is likely he or she is a combat-focused Tinker, which the inventions the three boys described seem to bear out."

Piggot grunted. "I wouldn't trust what they say. They'd say anything to cut time off their sentences."

"True, but I cross-referenced their statements with the security camera footage of Darkwing from both of the stores. There's a 90% chance that Darkwing is female, by the way." He responded crisply. "She was careful and avoided exposing her gun, but the few images that were revealed of her belt put it as a custom piece, with a seamless buckle. I have asked Dragon and there has not been any metal belt even remotely similar made by any manufacturer in America."

"So a Tinker with Mover abilities…interesting." Piggot nodded. "And the report about the motorcycle Darkwing used to ferry the boys to the police station?"

"Another custom job, but I would wager that its base is that of a regular motorcycle." Armsmaster said with a frown beneath his helmet. "It would certainly be easier than building one from scratch for a rookie Tinker."

The image of the bike in question was on the Director's monitor right then and there. It was lean and mean, a dull rust-red color and the headlights near the handlebars were shaped to look like glaring eyes.

"Whoever Darkwing is, she has a reasonable understanding of how to intimidate people, judging by how she appeared to her first captures and the appearance of her transport." Piggot observed, one finger tapping the desk surface thoughtfully. "She also isn't a loose cannon like Shadow Stalker was, as none of her weapons were anything close to being lethal. I want all Protectorate members and the Wards to extend her an invitation."

"Very well." Armsmaster said, something in his voice making Piggot raise an eyebrow at him.

"You don't believe Darkwing will accept." She stated, rather than asked.

"No, she will not." The Tinker Hero said with a shake of his head. "Had she wanted to join, she would have come after making one item, or perhaps two, as proof of her abilities. As she has assembled a rather good quality costume and devices for herself, it seems likely that she plans on being an independent hero."

The Director scowled. While they frequently lasted less than six months after their first outing, Independents and Rogues _could_ survive by themselves, even in Brockton Bay. Parian, the cloth-controller, was the most famous example. She wanted nothing to do with the war between the gangs and the PRT, merely to operate her clothing store in peace.

Emily Piggot's dislike of Capes left her unable to _quite_ believe what the girl was saying, but was forced by her strict professionalism and the rules set down by the Protectorate to not pressure her unless she clearly committed a crime with her powers, which the female Cape had never done. She didn't even have a jaywalking charge to her.

"Brockton Bay is teetering on a knife's edge and we do _not_ need a well-intentioned Independent Parahuman acting as the spark to set off the powder keg that this city has become." She ground out firmly. She was well aware that this was simply delaying the inevitable. The Neo-Nazi gang, Empire 88, the pan-Asian gang Azn Bad Boyz and the drug addict/trafficking gang the Archer's Bridge Merchants were in a state of equilibrium with one another, the Merchants, being by far the weakest of the three, acted as a useful buffer between the two larger gangs.

It was a lot more precarious than it looked, however. Kaiser's Empire 88 had more Capes than most of the city had combined, while the ABB had Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, who had fought the Endbringer Leviathan to a standstill. Just about the only saving grace was that Kaiser preferred to pretend to be an 'enlightened and civil' person, so rarely started a fight without overwhelming justification, while Lung was very much the epitome of a sleeping dragon, rarely stirring himself unless he felt he had been insulted personally.

Should that happen, or should the Empire be suddenly weakened drastically, or should the Merchants somehow cease to exist…well, the picture wasn't pretty.

"I'll ensure that Battery is there to keep Assault in line if they meet her." Armsmaster sighed.

"Please do. And Clockblocker as well." The Director felt a headache at the mention of her two least-favourite (that were in Brockton Bay) capes. Assault was a master at being irritating and irrelevant, and Clockblocker was rapidly making himself into a mini-Assault.

The only thing worse than having those two here would be if Mouse Protector decided to up sticks from Boston and move to the Bay!

 _A Week Later_

 _With Darkwing, Streets of Brockton Bay_

Cruising almost silently down the street on the Ratcatcher, the caped crime fighter known as Darkwing kept aware of any possible criminal activity in her vicinity with beady and alert eyes…

…or so she'd like to say, but she was really just bored out of her mind. Darkwing hadn't stumbled across a single crime in the past two hours, and the only thing she'd found before that had been a pair of drunk idiots urinating on someone's car.

' _Note to self: invent brain bleach._ ' Darkwing thought to herself with a shudder. There were some things that did not need to be seen, especially by girls who hadn't even made it to first base with a boy or girl.

She had ignored them because really, the embarrassment at being caught on camera would probably be punishment enough when the authorities tracked them down and charging them with being Drunk and Disorderly, along with Indecent Exposure and Loitering with Intent.

Abruptly, Darkwing swerved to one side as a large mass of trash flew out of an alley and almost hit her. The shouting and swearing coming from it led her to conclude that it was in fact the third member of the Merchants, Mush. He was a Changer, a class of Parahuman able to change their bodies in some way. His ability was to draw trash together and use it to make a false body for himself. The more trash he had, the bigger his body could become and the larger the pieces of trash he could absorb became.

She personally would have classed him as a Shaker, as he wasn't actually changing his body, just attracting garbage to create a false body around it, but whatever.

What was odd was that he had a garbage bin lodged in his midsection. Who could have…?

"Fuckin' Merchant trash!" a sneering female shouted from the alley as a black and red hooded figure emerged from it, floating on a manhole cover. Several chunks of concrete floated around her and her body language practically broadcast anger.

"Bitch!" Mush shouted, presumably at the floating woman, who Darkwing now recognised as Rune of the Empire 88.

"Cocksucking bastard. This is the Empire's fucking turf, not yours. Peddle your shit elsewhere!" Rune snapped at Mush before noticing me. "And who the fuck're you?!"

"Darkwing, new Indie hero." The purple-clad heroine replied. "So what's the usual etiquette when a hero stumbles across two villains beating the shit out of each other?"

Rune tilted her head to one side curiously. "You aren't gonna try to arrest us?"

"I'm technically just a vigilante, so I can only intervene if I interrupt a crime in progress." Darkwing shrugged. "Last thing I need is to give the Protectorate a reason to draft me. All you two are doing is fighting each other, so unless you threaten bystanders, I'll not be interfering."

"Fuckin' weird for a hero." Rune sneered verbally. "Get gone then before garbage for brains there decides to fuck you up."

Huh. Honorable Nazi Capes. What a contradiction in terms.

' _She likely doesn't want to have to possibly deal with two enemies at once rather than one._ ' Darkwing deduced easily. Aloud, she said, "OK. Have fun taking out the trash."

With that she zoomed off…for about a block, then used her smoke teleportation to speed to the rooftops and double back to watch the fight. Most of what she knew about Rune and Mush's powers were what Cape Hounds had posted on Pho, which meant it was at least suspect, if not a fabrication. Information gathered first hand was always preferable, and in the world of Capes, information was power, especially when it was regarding the powers and limitations of other Capes.

Luckily, the two more experienced Capes were busy fighting and didn't notice the puff of purple smoke that heralded her arrival on a nearby rooftop. Darkwing removed her hat and lay down on the surface of the roof to peer over the edge and observe the Cape fight.

Rune was throwing the heavy pieces of concrete at Mush, who tried (and failed) to smash them to one side. Then the Nazi cape was pulling them back into orbit around her, although it seemed that the more pieces she was actively controlling, the more effort she had to put into actively controlling them.

' _The more things she has under her control, the less control she actually has over them._ ' Darkwing concluded. ' _It would explain why she's just flinging them at Mush like she was manually throwing stones rather than adjusting their course in mid-flight._ '

On Mush's side, every displaced piece of brick and overturned garbage can was rapidly sucked into his false golem body. This contradicted what that idiot xxxxVoid_Cowboyxxxx posted about Mush not being able to add to his body after it was made. It also meant that the trash controller was more dangerous the longer a fight went on. It upgraded him to being a priority target in Darkwing's mind, one to be removed from play quickly before he could take advantage of his advantage.

Soon enough though, Mush had enough and ran. Rune cursed him out for a minute before floating back the way she had come, presumably to report to a superior about her victory. Darkwing remained on the rooftop for a moment before standing, replacing her hat and teleporting in stages back to her bike.

She had files to write.

 **Ok, so this is another stab at Darkwing!Taylor. Not sure if it's coming off as well as the first chapter, but I'm trying to make it a mix of Darkwing's intelligence and toon-like luck combined with a bit of Worm's gritty realism. Let me know how I did.**


	101. Survive, Adapt, Win Chapter 3

**Survive, Adapt, Win Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 43)**

 _Observation Booth, Prototype Weapons Testing Area, XCOM Base, Taylor Hebert's Mindscape_

"I take it this means that you've finished the reverse-engineering of Bakuda's weaponry, Doctor Vahlen?" Taylor asked as she was escorted into the observation booth by the German scientist.

"Indeed we have, Commander." Vahlen was smiling proudly. "While the technology of 'Tinkertech' is beyond regular scientists on Earth Bet, the increased number of scientists and Laboratories that you authorised greatly helped us use the advantage that our knowledge of alien technology granted us."

Sitting down in her designated seat, the Commander gestured for her to continue as Bradford and Shen joined them.

"The first grenade that we tested was one that transmuted anything it touched into glass, organic and inorganic." The Head of the Research and Development Division said with a frown. "It took some creative thinking on my people's part, but we were able to create a grenade that only affects inorganic and unliving matter. Observe below."

Looking out of the window, Taylor saw a soldier picking up a cylindrical grenade, pulling out the pin and throwing it at a target dummy. A few seconds after it landed, the grenade exploded, letting off a large blast of white light. When it cleared, the entire target dummy, plus the floor beneath it, had been turned into glass.

"I have dubbed them 'Vitrification' Grenades, although the testing soldiers call them 'Vritra' grenades for short." Vahlen shook her head at that. "With your approval, Commander, I shall also start work on a method of reversing the Vitrification effect on organic matter, in case Bakuda uses any of the original sort on our troops."

"Approved." Taylor said immediately.

Nodding, the scientist continued. "The next grenade was a rather ghastly little device; it was literally a 'pain' grenade that somehow attacked the nervous system of anyone with in the device's Area of Effect. As such weapons go against your preferences, and my own as well, I focused on developing a device that can be added to any type of armour to make such a 'pain wave' useless. I also developed a close quarters weapon designed to use a greatly toned down and contact restricted version of the wave."

"Commander, with this, I believe we should add a fourth class to our troops." Bradford said seriously. "We already have Assaults, Heavies and Sharpshooters, but we need nimble soldiers with a degree of freedom of movement and the easy ability to enter close combat. This weapon, the Neural Sword, is non-lethal and highly debilitating from what I've seen of Doctor Vahlen's reports, thus making it the perfect CQC weapon to initially equip them with."

Taylor considered that for a moment. "Very well. What should we call the specialisation?"

"Rangers." Central Officer Bradford said with a firm nod. "They'll essentially be the armed scouts of XCOM, so it fits."

"OK then. Have a list made up of those rookies whom you believe to have talent in this new specialisation and I'll take them out on my next mission." The Commander ordered.

"It'll be on your desk this time tomorrow." Central nodded.

"Doctor Shen, have at least five copies of the Neural Sword ready for wielders ASAP."

"I'll send the orders and have it done as soon as my department receives the schematics, Commander." The elderly Asian man agreed.

"Good. Doctor Vahlen, please continue."

The older woman nodded. "Ahem. The third type of grenade we tested created what is best called a bubble of frozen time. It is permanent and unyielding, which necessitated researching a method of neutralizing them first. The Null-Time Blaster Pistol can dissolve these time bubbles and return those trapped within them to the normal flow of time without being harmed."

Taylor's eye widened. "Would the Blaster work on Grey Boy's time-loop bubbles?"

Grey Boy, a now-deceased member of the infamous Slaughterhouse Nine, had possessed the power to lock people, both as individuals and even entire townships, into bubbles, forcing them to repeat the same action over and over again. Many had tried to break the time loops, but none had succeeded.

Vahlen hesitated before shaking her head. "The NTBP has only been tested against _frozen_ time, not _constantly looping_ time. I would have to study an example of a Grey Boy bubble before even attempting to hazard a guess."

"It's something to think about for the future." The younger girl sighed. "Continue."

"Ma'am. Once we solved the issue of breaking someone out of a time-stop, we invented two similar items. One is a temporary time stasis grenade and rocket. They freeze anything caught in their AOE for about ten minutes, less if they are of considerable size. The other is what we refer to as a stasis bubble that can be equipped on our own troops or even on you, Commander. If you take a potentially fatal wound while equipped with this item, it will freeze you in time for about as long as the stasis grenade. That should give our troops more than enough time to finish off any enemies, get to you and prepare emergency field dressings."

"Make the stasis bubble a required field item for all members of XCOM." Taylor ordered at once. "I suppose I'd better start wearing armour too if I want to use it."

"I'll set a date with the fabricators." Shen said.

"The fourth grenade was little more than a vastly more powerful conventional explosive, which I have used to increase the explosive yield of our standard grenades and rockets by fifty percent." Vahlen continued. "Finally, the fifth grenade was…well, horrific. It had some sort of mutagenic effect, warping all organic matter within its AOE. As of yet, I have only a bare grasp as to how the flesh warping actually works, so I cannot offer any devices or curatives for it, but I can foresee using a modified version of it as a replacement for our current med-kits."

"Excellent work, Doctor." The Commander nodded appreciatively. "How are the laser weapons coming along?"

"Another two weeks and they ought to be fully completed." The German researcher said with a slightly smug smile. "Our hypothesis that our troops and yourself defeating Parahuman enemies creates Meld will have to be altered and expanded upon, Commander. It would seem that defeating regular human enemies yields us weapon fragments and alien alloys, as well as some small amounts of Elerium and Meld. I checked our reserves of all of the above on a hunch just before the meeting. This means that there will be no problem in constructing both advanced weaponry and the MEC suits."

"Have there been any volunteers?" Taylor asked.

"Several. All we are awaiting is the completion of the Cybernetics Laboratory." Doctor Shen answered easily. "We only have the schematics to build a single type of MEC, the MEC-1, codenamed 'Warden'. Any further advances in it will require further research."

"Very good. Have the surgery performed as soon as the Cybernetics Lab is operational." The Commander directed. "Who is the first volunteer?"

"Squaddie Anika Gardener." Central supplied. "A Heavy Trooper."

"Inform her that her willingness to undergo this surgery is appreciated and that she has my personal gratitude." Taylor said. She really didn't like that she was basically mutilating someone to increase her power, but it was a voluntary program, not the typical military voluntold scenario.

"I'll inform her shortly." Central nodded. "Commander, what is our plan for tonight?"

"We'll have to clean up the Merchants." The young Parahuman said with a moue of distaste. The Merchants were the weakest of the three big gangs in Brockton Bay and thus far the only one of the three that the Parahuman Commander had not attacked in any form, mostly due to the Empire and ABB making a nuisance of themselves. The drug-based gang had thus been trying to grab territory left and right, so Taylor had decided to do something about that.

"The Merchants…they have some rather troubling powers." Central mused. "Squealer concerns me the most, with Skidmark a close second."

"For the vehicles she builds and his redirection field." Taylor nodded. "Mush is also worrying. We should take him out first; as he gets stronger the longer a fight drags on."

"Agreed." Central nodded. "Also, if we can secure any of Squealer's Tinkertech, we may be able to develop something from it, couldn't we Doctors?"

"Almost certainly." Doctor Vahlen agreed immediately.

"If it can be picked apart by the labs, my engineers can build it." Shen nodded. "Speaking of which, Commander, do you want Carapace armour or a Skeleton Suit?"

Taylor hesitated. "Carapace armour. I'll mostly be coordinating from the rear, so the armour is a just-in-case scenario. Have a helmet made that looks similar to my mask as well."

"Roger that." Shen nodded. "Also, regarding the MEC troopers, the basic Warden's standard armament is a Minigun, as well as either a Kinetic Strike Module or a Flamethrower. Doctor Vahlen is in the middle of designing a less-lethal version for deployment, but we could use getting our hands on some PRT Containment Foam so we could reverse engineer it and use in place of the Flamethrower's usual ammunition."

"The PRT doesn't give out Containment Foam." The Brocktonite said dryly. "Its formula is top secret, so all we're likely to get is some used foam from after they've used it on someone."

"That should be a good start." Doctor Vahlen stated. "I daresay that I could make some deductions on how it works from a sample."

"It was developed by Dragon, the best Tinker on the planet." Taylor replied. "People have tried to figure out how it works before and no one has succeeded."

Vahlen smiled. "There is a first time for everything, Commander."

 _Later that Night_

 _Streets of Brockton Bay_

Clad in her new Carapace Armour, Commander made her way across the rooftop of the abandoned warehouse that was opposite the chosen target she had used a couple of her Ranger candidates to locate. It was a drug factory and the Parahuman scowled at how obvious it was. Why the Protectorate hadn't cracked down on these crackheads before now was beyond her, but if they were just going to pose for the cameras, she'd do their job for them.

' _Huh. I guess Central's distaste for the PRT has started to rub off on me._ ' She thought wryly.

Shen and his engineers had, as usual, done a bang-up job of building her armour and mask. It included several of the newer upgrades that Doctor Vahlen had developed, including the Stasis Bubble Module and the Anti-Pain Field Generator. The helmet also had a zoom function, infrared vision and the glass of the visor was one-way photochromic, polarizing from her perspective in light, but being clear with none, allowing her to be protected from flashbangs.

" _Commander, satellite coverage is poor, so we have little intel for you._ " Central said apologetically. " _If you're willing to wait, a satellite is due to be over your position in fifteen minutes._ "

"Negative, Central. Strike One and I will be able to handle this." She replied softly. "This kind of thing is bound to happen thanks to Ziz randomly or not so randomly destroying satellites, so we may as well get used to this sort of thing happening. It's a good thing this is only happening with the Merchants; otherwise I _would_ be waiting that extra quarter of an hour."

" _Roger that, Commander._ " Central said. He sounded as though he personally disagreed with her, but recognised the truth of her words regardless. " _Strike One is ready to move out at your signal._ "

Focusing, Commander brought forth the four other members of Strike One. All of them were dressed in the typical armour worn by XCOM Rookies, which was equivalent to the latest generation of regular armour worn by the US Military. The other two members of Strike One were deployed on the northern and southern areas respectively, while Commander and the main thrust of Strike One would infiltrate from the rear of the building to the east.

"OK Strike One. This is Operation Plunging Demon." The leader of XCOM said crisply. "We have little intel due to a lack of satellite coverage, but it is known that this is a Merchant drug factory. The number of hostiles is unknown, but suspected to be at least thirty in number, with equally unknown equipment. Given the haphazard organisation of the Merchants, it'll range between improvised hand-to-hand weapons to last-gen semi-automatics. Cover each other, keep alert and check your fire if near volatile chemicals. The last thing we need is an explosion and a bunch of dead perps. Questions?"

"Ma'am. No questions." One guy said, Garson, I think it was. His sentiment was echoed by the rest of the squad.

"OK then. Orson, Mendez, go on overwatch and let us know about any incoming vehicles, because that means Squealer more than likely." I ordered the other two members of Strike One.

" _Roger, going on Overwatch._ "

" _Acknowledged, on Overwatch._ "

Drawing my Shock Pistol, the handgun variant of the stun weaponry used by most of XCOM nowadays, I nodded. "Move out."

Carefully, Strike One made their way down the building by sliding down the drainpipes and sneaking down the fire escapes. While they were _XCOM_ rookies, all members _of_ XCOM were former members of various armed forces from around their Earth, mostly special forces or elite police units like SWAT. One-on-one, Commander would bet any XCOM Rookie could at least hold their own against a PRT Trooper, likely doing better and taking their opponent down.

Closing her eyes, she activated the portion of her powers that let her oversee the battlefield. It only worked in the area that she designated as the AO, but it was useful, as it let her scout the area, even as her troops advanced. They were being cautious, moving from cover to cover and covering for one another as they moved, which was good.

" _Orson here, Commander. We have a vehicle appearing in front of the building, some sort of cloaking device._ " A gruff voice informed Commander. She swiftly shifted her view to see a heavily modified estate car shimmer into existence.

"If they're stupid enough to leave the keys in the car when they go in, grab the car and head to drop point Epsilon." She ordered Orson. The chance of getting ahold of that kind of tech was too much of an opportunity. "If they don't, ignore it."

" _Roger. Permission given for GTA of TTV._ " Orson said, a smile in his voice. GTA was Grand Theft Auto and TTV was Tinker Tech Vehicle.

Shifting back to the rear of the building, Commander pushed her awareness inside of the building allowed by the fact that her men were peering in through the dusty windows.

"Commander to Strike One. Visibility is average inside." She said briskly once she activated her radio again. "I count twenty, that is two-zero, hostiles inside, with four more coming in from the car. The place is roughly divided up with corrugated iron into cubicles that house various drug preparatory apparatuses. The hostiles are scattered all over this area. If we move swiftly, we can take them down quickly and easily."

As one would expect of morons like the Merchants, they had left the back door unlocked and with no alarm on it. She could hear Central tutting in professional distaste on the other end of the radio.

" _This is Orson. I have hijacked the car, now on route to drop point Epsilon under cloak._ " Commander heard just as the last of the four man Strike One team entered the building.

"Good job Orson." she said before switching frequencies. "Central, have Orson put in for a free round at the bar."

" _Will do, Commander._ "

Refocusing on her task, Commander guided her four soldiers through the building, ambushing and neutralizing individual members of the Merchants who were either wandering around on 'patrol' while in a drugged up haze or who were sleeping. Typical druggies; they can't help sampling their own product. They obviously never watched _Scarface_.

With over half of the Merchants out of commission already, the operation seems as if it would go off without a hitch. Commander should have known better.

" _This is Mendez, Commander._ " The last member of Strike One said urgently. " _I have a clear visual on one of the people who arrived in the car and has now discovered that it is missing. It's Skidmark. I repeat, Skidmark knows that his car has been stolen and he does_ not _look happy about it._ "

"Dammit. Good eyes, Mendez." Commander said with a curse. "Move in closer and go on overwatch again. When you hear shots fired from inside the warehouse, you have weapons free."

" _Roger that, Commander._ "

"OK Strike One, it's been confirmed that Skidmark is here in the AO." She said, switching to the squad-wide frequency again. "Just a reminder, but his power is that he can create shields that possess the power of either attraction or repulsion. It's also rumoured that he can layer them for increased effect. It works on both powers and bullets, so direct fire is not an option. If you get a chance, lob a Stasis Grenade over him, as his shields have a limited AOE and, while they work on both sides, they are unidirectional, meaning he would have to set up multiple shields to protect himself, and he has never shown the ability to do more than layer them."

A chorus of acknowledgements followed that. The men and women of XCOM were professionals and knew to take any briefing seriously. Skidmark was going to have a bad surprise if he thought that things would go entirely his way.

"YOU! YOU FUDGE-PACKING DICK-GUZZLERS!" Skidmark shouted as he stomped down the corridor, several Merchants behind him. Evidently, he wasn't as stupid as people thought. He had obviously tried to contact the people they had taken out and gathered most of the rest to counterattack.

"Stand down." One member of Strike One, Mei-Li, ordered coolly.

The response Skidmark gave was probably an expletive, but it was so mangled by anger that it was indecipherable. "Kill them!" he screamed, pointing at the XCOM soldiers, who dove for cover as handguns were levelled in their directions.

Sporadic fire pelted their positions, so Commander decided it was time to hit back. "Strike One, weapons free."

The weapons that the squad carried were basic rifle versions of the laser-delivered Taser weapons used by the snipers. The lasers were invisible to the naked eye, so when Mei-Li and Garson pulled their triggers, it looked like two members of the Merchants just decided to collapse. Even Skidmark thought that they had just OD'd on their drugs.

"Useless shitstains!"

"Garson, Mei-Li, shift to suppressing fire. O'Donnell, Kalashnikov, circle around and toss Stasis Grenades at the group." Commander ordered.

" _Suppressing._ "

" _Keeping their heads down, aye ma'am._ "

" _Moving._ "

" _Da,_ _tovarisch._ "

As simple as the strategy was, it worked. Skidmark was too busy yelling at his useless men to notice the enemy numbers in front of them had gone down to two…right up until the two Stasis Grenades clunked to the ground nearby and exploded. O'Donnell and Kalashnikov had expertly spaced the grenades out so that they didn't overlap and so that as many of the Merchants were hit as possible.

The bubbles were tinged purple and englobed all of the Merchants, freezing them in place. Commander sighed in relief now that the hard part was done.

"OK Strike One, that's the hard part. Now all you have to do is wait until the grenades' effect ends and you can tase the bastards." Commander ordered. "Mendez, you come in and start prepping the place to blow. I don't want this place to be standing by the time we're gone."

" _Roger that._ "

This had been a result of a debate between Taylor and Central. The main point was that if left alone, the Merchants would just reoccupy the building and use it again. Blowing the place up, with all of the drugs and everything else left inside, would deny them the drugs and prevent the Merchants from reusing the building.

Taylor hadn't been enthused about performing an act of arson, but Central had talked her around.

A short five minutes later, Skidmark and his druggies were introduced to rifle stocks striking them in the face and back of the neck as soon as they came out of stasis, dropping them like flies.

"Orson, sitrep."

" _Sitting at drop point Epsilon, ma'am._ " The soldier replied. " _The package is secure and ready for Doctor Vahlen and Doctor Shen to have a teardown party._ "

"I'll send you back to base, and then re-summon you." The Commander stated. Drop point Epsilon was an abandoned garage near to but not connected to her physical base. It had been set up for just this sort of occasion.

In seconds, Orson was standing in the drug warehouse and was quickly tasked with helping to bind and remove the unconscious Merchants and their leader from the drug factory. Co0mmander made her way into the building while her troops were busy and waited for everything to be set up.

"Anything useful?" she asked Mei-Li.

"Negative, Commander. Just some peashooters and a little cash." The woman shook her head. "Doctor Shen might want the guns to disassemble and melt down for raw materials, but in terms of loot, this raid was all but worthless."

"Fair enough." Commander allowed. "Bag 'em. New standing order: gather all enemy weapons to take back to HQ at the end of a mission if possible. The more materials we deny the enemy and the more financial cost we force them to go through to replace them, the better."

"10-4, Commander." The Chinese woman nodded.

"Mendez, how are those demo-charges coming?" the Commander asked.

"Two more minutes and it'll be ready." The man called back. XCOM, for whatever reason, had a stock of C4 designed to blow up buildings, so Central had ordered a set to be given to a member of the squad prior to deployment. The man was very good at his job.

"Orson, are those Merchants outside of the predicted blast radius?"

" _Yes ma'am. Some of them are coming around and being a pain. Permission to stun them again?_ "

"Granted." Having Skidmark act up was not a good idea.

A few minutes later, the warehouse that the Merchants had used as a drug factory for years imploded, crumbling in on itself as demo-charges attached to various structural weak points went off. By the time the PRT and Police arrived, the place was a ruin and the only clue as to what had happened were the twenty-odd Merchants, including Skidmark, secured a safe distance from the building.

 **So, I haven't heard from Shadows of Vanity for a while. I'm hoping this'll make him/her come back.**


	102. Soul Transmigration

**Soul Transmigration**

I think it goes without saying, but being shot in the back of the head with a Glock…yeah, it sucks.

Contessa had shot me to prevent the monster I had rapidly started to devolve into, the [Queen Administrator], from possibly, in the future, mind-controlling humanity, presuming I somehow made it to an Earth that had humans on it. At least, that's what I suppose she was aiming for. Trust the one time Contessa was wrong to involve me.

I had been expecting a lot of possible things. The fire and brimstone of Hell, perhaps, or even the nothingness of Purgatory. Instead, I woke up in the body of an eleven-and-a-half year-old girl.

It had been three months since I had woken up like this and there were a few things that I had discovered in that time. The first was that the girl whose body I inhabited was _also_ called Taylor Anne Hebert, daughter of Daniel Hebert and Annette Rose Hebert. I had somehow _possessed_ the body of an alternate version of myself.

The second thing was that the above was only possible because someone had destroyed the soul of the ten-year-old alternate me. I have no idea how that was even remotely possible, but having both of 'my' parents cry over me was enough to make me determined to find out who had essentially killed my alternate.

Third: the Earth I was on looked nothing like Aleph, Bet or Gimel. Instead of a mass of continents created from Pangea breaking up, the entire planet was essentially a vast series of archipelagos, little island chains scattered all over the place. I had seen a map and I was _not_ looking forward to geography lessons.

Fourth: the political makeup of the world was mostly monarchies, oligarchies, dictatorships and theocracies. My new parents and I lived in the Kingdom of Sirius, under the Brockton Royal Family. Yes, it seems I just can't get away from Brockton Bay, even in an alternate world, as that's _also_ the place where we lived, the capital city of the Kingdom.

Fifth: I was not simply Taylor Hebert in this world. I was _Lady_ Taylor Hebert, Heiress of the Proud and Noble Hebert Family. The Heberts were goddamn _nobles_. To be exact, we were formerly March Barons, basically the guardians of a particular area of the kingdom's borders. In my grandfather's generation, after over _two-hundred years_ of loyal and distinguished service, we were finally relieved of that duty and granted an Earldom.

Finally, Sixth…there was actual, Capital-M, _magic_ in this world. Myrddin would be squeeing at this point. I know of no details about it, only that it exists and that all nobles are expected to know how to use it if they have the talent.

Evidently, I do.

I have no idea why I am here, or even how it happened. Still…I have been given a second chance at life. A life without the powers of the [Queen Administrator] gnawing at my mind or altering my thoughts. I was at long last free of the influence of the Agents of Eden and Zion.

Now I just had to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my new life.

 _Four Months After Taylor's Transmigration_

 _Study, Hebert Family Mansion, Brockton Bay_

"A Magic Academy?" I blinked.

"Yes. All members of the Nobility attend the National Magic Academy on Dog Star Island between the ages of twelve and sixteen." Dad said, sitting behind a desk and idly sorting papers. Even after four months, it was weird to see him dressed up in clothes right out of a period drama. Oh, did I forget to mention that this place is stuck in the pre-Industrial Revolution technology level? Well now you know. "I did, your mother did, and now you will as well."

I knew where he was talking about; Dog Star Island was the centermost island of the Kingdom of Sirius, only a day's voyage by ship from Brockton Island where I was now. I hadn't known that's where the academy was though.

"Will I come back during those four years?" I asked.

"Yes, of course." Dad assured me. "As if you could separate a child and their parents for that long! You'll come back for a month each year and we come and visit you there at least once a year. More If I can wrangle time off from my position."

Dad was the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture. As you can imagine, with the world mostly being saltwater, the part being tacked on there was definitely agriculture. He was respected by the King, by the fishermen and by most of the commoners for his strict sense of right and wrong, was well as his firm, but compassionate, rule. He had inherited the position from his father, the First Earl Hebert. He was always busy, but as the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture was built next door to our mansion, I (or rather my alternate) had been able to pop over and see him as I (She) pleased.

"You should get more people to help. The Ministry's barely got enough for anything to happen." I pouted. Thanks to possessing my alternate's memories (somehow), I knew that despite the trust placed in him by the king, the other nobles disliked Dad and cut into the distribution of personnel into his bailiwick. 'Newblood' was the term they referred to nobility with less than seven generations at a title. Dad (and his father) were known as the Upstart Newbloods. It was something that I would have to face at school as well.

Lovely. I was readily expecting Winslow Version 2.0 at this point.

"We have enough to get by, and His Majesty is starting to get annoyed by the other earls interfering." Dad smirked. "He's going to crack down on them if they pull just one more thing."

I smirked back. "He's a nice king."

"Glad to see he has your approval." Dad said dryly. "You will not have to worry about people treating you differently at the Academy, by the way."

I gave him a somewhat disbelieving look at that.

"Well, not much, anyway." He amended his statement. "At the Academy, all peerage titles stop at the pier. A Crown Prince is treated no better than the daughter of a miller or a former slave. All rivalries, blood feuds and politics are suspended by law, tradition and the power of the Masters at the Academy. It is the absolute most neutral territory in the entire kingdom. Not even His Majesty can command the Masters there outside of a dire situation. You'll be treated no differently than anyone else, little owl."

I nodded slowly. I had my doubts, as even a democratic country like America couldn't guarantee that degree of neutrality in any of its educational facilities, but I'd see how it went. "OK, Dad. When do we leave?"

"The day after your birthday is the first day of the new term." Dad said as he finished sorting his papers. "I'm afraid we'll have to have the party early this year, sweetheart."

"That's fine." I shook my head. "Will Mom be here for it?"

"Like anything could stop her." Dad snorted, making me giggle. Mom, in this life, oversaw the fishing fleets on a rotation basis, but she always managed to make time for me when she rotated back especially for my birthday. It was very much nepotism, but I wasn't complaining.

"The academy doesn't allow any servants to accompany you, as they provide them." Dad said after a moment. "But fortunately, there is a place free for someone still. Do you want me to enroll Emma?"

This was the big change. Whereas in my original world the _Barnes'_ were wealthier and more affluent than mine, here, _they_ were dependent on the Hebert Family as former commoners raised to the middle class with my father's backing. Alan had saved my father's life once and Dad had repaid that by helping them become merchants.

Emma and I had grown up as friends here, although the social class difference prevented us from being as good friends as we had been in my last life. Still, we were friends and unlike the Emma in my past life, she hadn't betrayed me yet.

"Does Emma even have magical potential?" I asked in confusion. "I don't think she's been tested."

"She was tested just yesterday while we were at that banquet with Lord Stanford and Lady Dallon." Dad supplied. The test merely tested for magical potential being present, not how much magic that person possessed, but it was a surprise; she hadn't Triggered in my last world, so I had assumed she'd be just as helpless here. Maybe actually having some degree of power here would stop her going off her rocker like she had back on Earth Bet.

"Sure. Sign her up." I agreed.

"OK then. You go and finish your studies for the day then." Dad said dismissively.

"Already done!" I said smugly. Please, the mathematical proficiency requirements in this world aren't exactly hard; a third year in middle school could dance on the grave of the math problems I had been given.

"I'll be checking." He warned me.

"Bet you a gold I get at least nine out of ten of them right." I teased.

"No gambling, young lady." He admonished me mock-sternly.

I found a gold on my bedside table before I went to sleep.

 _Day Before the Start of the New Term_

 _Aboard the Hebert Family Vessel West Wind, En-Route to Dog Star Island_

"You OK Emma?" I asked in actual concern. She was so green that her head looked like a Brussel sprout with a wig on it.

"BLEEEGGGHH!" she replied, upchucking her lunch overboard.

"Looks like Emma's seasick." Alan said wryly. He and my Dad were watching us in amusement as I tried to get Emma feeling better.

"I couldn't tell." I said sarcastically before going back to rubbing her back. We were both wearing dresses (the worst part of living in this world, if you asked me; the lack of acceptance towards girls wearing trousers) and I had been lucky enough to drag Emma to the port side of the ship before she couldn't hold back any longer. "Are there any magic spells that can do something about seasickness?"

"Some." Dad admitted. "They'll be a bit advanced for you though. You won't get to that point for at _least_ a year."

Emma looked at me pleadingly in between vomiting up what had to be everything she had eaten for the past month.

"I'll do my best." I promised her, adding to myself that I wouldn't use it on her if something made her stab me in the back while at the school.

"Land ahoy!" the lookout cried. "Dog Star Island, dead ahead!"

"Thank the gods!" my redheaded companion muttered feelingly.

As we pulled up to the dock, the captain of the ship, Kurt, came over to see my father. "M'lord, there have been rumours of Black Sails in the area recently."

I frowned, as did Dad. Black Sails were basically pirates. Even I'd heard of them.

"Whose?" Dad asked quietly.

"Anton Lavere's Marquisate." Kurt replied seriously.

Dad exhaled. "The Black Sail Marquis, eh? Well, even he knows that it would be suicide to attack the Academy or any area near the capital. If he's been sighted, it's likely he's transitioning to another location. Keep the men alert for any signs of stupidity of Lavere's fleet though."

"Yes, My Lord." Kurt nodded and set about obeying his orders.

"He's never been this deep in the kingdom since his plot against the King was discovered." Alan muttered to Dad. "Why would he come here _now_ , of all times?"

"I have no clue." Dad admitted. "All we can do is be alert…unlike Lady Dallon's men, it appears."

I turned my attention to the ship in the next berth over. All of the sailors there seemed to be taking it easy, with only a couple even going about their duties.

"I think our sailors are better, Dad." I told his firmly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the sailors on our ship stiffen with pride.

"I only hire the best, dear." Dad laughed. "Now, you'd better get ready."

"Do I have to change into another dress?" I eyed the one I was wearing in distaste, making Dad laugh again. Even my alternate had disliked wearing dresses, so me acting like this wasn't unexpected.

"No, students at the Academy are issued robes." Dad said after he stopped laughing. "I was talking about repacking your things."

"I did mine this morning and Emma's before we came up on deck." I shrugged. "It wasn't as if I had many things out, or that I had much to do since you limited the number of books I could bring with me."

"Sorry, but you know what you get like once you start reading." Dad coughed uncomfortably.

My alternate-self had, apparently, been something of a bibliophile. Thanks to that, I had quite a bit of knowledge to access. I had no idea how my soul had become attached to this body when the original's had (somehow) been destroyed or removed, but I swore that I'd make best use of what my younger alternate had left me…starting with discovering how someone could destroy or remove a soul. It was obviously with magic.

Hmm…? How did I know my alternate's soul was removed or destroyed? No clue. Instinct, I suppose. I had just known that that was the case as soon as I had woken up in my new body. I hadn't, and still don't, know which it is, but I will find out.

 _The Next Day, After the Entrance Ceremony_

 _Classroom_

The robes provided by the Academy were better than the dresses that I had worn up until then, but only because the boys looked just as ridiculous. First Years wore dark brown robes with a white stripe down one arm and a white sash around the waist. Second years wore white robes with a red stripe down both arms and a red sash.

I hadn't seen any third or fourth years, but presumably the trend continued there. That wasn't really my concern here though; what was my concern was that I knew a lot of these people. Every teen Cape from Brockton Bay was here. A lot of familiar faces, including…

Sophia.

Seeing Sophia Hess in one of these robes was worth it. I was going to keep my distance from her because judging from the dark scowl on her face, this Sophia was a bit too similar to the one I was familiar with.

An old man in a black robe with a white stripe down one arm entered the room. He carried a staff that, I was told by the whispers around me, indicated he was a Master Mage.

"Attention." He said in a surprisingly strong voice for such an old man. "I am Clarke, Master of the First Order, and I am your instructor to this class, 'An Introduction to Magic'."

Once he was certain that he had our attention, he continued. "The basic logic of magic is thus: magic is divided into 'spheres' of control and it is these spheres of control that we master in order to use our powers. There are twelve Major Spheres in the world and countless Lesser Spheres. The object of your studies while at this Academy is to gain at least a decent understanding of four Major Spheres. Any Lesser Spheres are a bonus."

After gazing around for a moment, he gestured at the blackboard and twelve circles appeared. "The Twelve Major Spheres are Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Darkness, Light, Shadow, Life, Death, Mind, Sound and Nature. Each is important in its own way and has a variety of uses."

Pointing at the top circle, the symbol of a clenched fist appeared, drawn so it looked as if it was made from stone, with rigid straight lines. "Earth is one that is overlooked for the most part, but it is this Sphere that allows us to expand our islands and create soil to place plants in. Without Earth, we would have died centuries ago."

The second circle was filled by the drawing of a dancing flame. "Fire is a Sphere of both destruction and rebirth. With it, you can lay waste to an entire forest…but by doing so you will also sow the seeds of new growth. Combat aside, it is a useful Sphere to know at least the basics of for cooking."

The third circle was a series of swirling lines. "Wind is one of the two most studied Spheres in the world. It speeds our ships along, protects our soldiers from arrows and can be used to cut asunder our enemies."

The fourth circle was a fluid drawing of a roaring wave. "Water is the other most studied Sphere in the world. Purifying salt water at sea, cleansing wounds, calming the seas…these are only a few of the many and myriad uses we have used the Water Sphere for. It is, perhaps, even more vital that you learn this Sphere than any other, for lacking water in a world of mostly saltwater is a death sentence."

The fifth circle had a twisted rune that looked like a little h standing on its head and bisected by a little r. "Darkness is just that; darkness. Unlike what some believe-" he cast a look at Victoria Dallon at this point. "-to use Darkness Magic is not automatically evil. A user of darkness can manipulate the darkness already present, blinding the enemy at night, create nightmarish beings from the darkness and more."

Evidently the Dallons were anti-darkness user.

The sixth circle had a rune that was like an inverted version of the symbol for darkness. "The Sphere of Light allows one to illuminate their surroundings and some have even turned it to offensive and defensive purposes. Useful, if very difficult to master."

The seventh circle had a hooded figure facing left. "The Sphere of Shadow is one of stealth. It can allow one to travel from shadow to shadow and to cloak an army from sight during twilight. Although it offers little in the way of offensive or defensive means, it is still rather popular in the military."

The eighth circle had a drawing of a robed woman facing forwards. "Life is a Sphere that is both blessed and cursed. On one hand, most use this Sphere to heal, to restore lost limbs and save lives. On the other, some few, twisted madmen have created abominations of nature by twisting the abilities granted by this Sphere to meld animals together."

The ninth circle had a robed and hooded man facing right, a scythe in one hand. "The Sphere of Death is just as misunderstood as Life is. On one hand, there are those who use this Sphere, and the Lesser Sphere it contains under its Aegis, Necromancy, to raise the dead and sap the life from others to extend their own lifespan. On the other hand, the only counter to a Necromancer is for a user of the Sphere of Death to disperse the energies of death that animates the unfortunate cadavers that animates them. It is also full of useful attack spells, so do not allow the ridiculous bad reputation that this Sphere has among gossips and old wives to colour your perceptions."

The tenth circle had the drawing of a human head in it. "The Sphere of the Mind is an easily abused one, which is why you will not be taught it until your last year here. A skilled user of this Sphere can heal the wounds of deepest hate, ease loss and alleviate despair…or just as easily control the mind of the recipient. Be warned that being proven to have used the Mind Sphere to control someone is a capital offence."

The eleventh circle had a series of waves drawn in it. "The Sphere of Sound was originally thought to be a Lesser Sphere, up until five centuries ago, where it was raised to the level of a Major Sphere by the Supreme Master of the Mage's Council. Sound can carry a voice across distances, it can shatter the hearing of its targets and it can even be used to utterly destroy the body of a human."

The twelfth and final circle was willed with a storm cloud hovering over a forest. "The last of the Major Spheres is Nature. You might think to yourself 'well, don't a lot of the others fall under this one?' You'd be right and wrong about that. Nature covers not only the separate Lesser and Major Spheres that make it up, but also the interaction between them. A master of the Nature Sphere instinctively seeks harmony with the elements of nature and works to maintain it. Necromancers are the natural enemies of Nature Mages and the clashes between them are the stuff of legends if they are truly masters of their spheres."

Turning to face us, Master Clarke tucked his hands behind his back. "You will receive basic textbooks on the morrow detailing the basics of all of the Major Spheres with the exception of Mind Magic, Death Magic and Life Magic. For the moment, however, you will be called, one by one, into the room over there, where you will be assessed for which of the Twelve Major Spheres you are most in tune with. Some of you will have as little as one, while others may have as many as six. If you end up as either one of these extremes, I can tell you that it is not any reason to be either ashamed or proud; your magical talents are what they are, nothing more and nothing less."

That being said, he walked over to the small door set into one side of the classroom that wasn't the way out and called the first student in.

That was a tremendous information overload. I opened one of my blank jotters and started to write the pertinent points down.

"Why're you writing? He never gave us an assignment." Emma whispered. She was sat next to me. I was anticipating that she would be called soon, as Master Clarke was going in A-Z alphabetical order.

"Writing down the information will keep it in my mind better than just reading it." I answered quietly. "Mom told me that knowledge is power when it comes to magic, Ems. She's a Master at Water Magic, so she knows what she's talking about."

"Lady Annette? I knew she was a mage, but I never knew what her specialty was." Emma mused. She reluctantly got out her own jotter and started writing down her own notes. We weren't the only ones, but those who followed suit weren't common. Chris, Kid Win, was one, with someone I recognised as Amelia Lavere, freaking PANACEA, doing the same. Wasn't her father a pirate? Could this place really be THAT neutral?!

Shaking my head slightly in disbelief, I resolved to stay well clear of THAT mess.

Emma was called and, a few minutes later, came back looking elated. "So, how'd you do?" I asked, amused at her excitement.

"Mind, Life and Water!" Emma replied eagerly. "Father will be delighted! AND I don't have to worry about being a mere second wife to a powerful merchant to boot! Well, so long as I have the proper amount of magical energy, I suppose."

"There'll be exercises to increase the amount of magic you have." I assured her. "Mom hinted as much before she saw us off at Brockton Bay, remember?"

"Do you think she'll teach me?" Emma asked hopefully.

"If you do your best, then probably." I answered as I finished my notes and handed them to her. "Here. Check for anything you missed."

"Th-thanks!" Emma smiled brightly at me.

Dammit. Now I was really feeling bad about still harboring mistrust towards her. While _this_ Emma and the Emma from Earth Bet had _similarities_ , such as their love of clothes, they were also greatly different. This one was subservient to me, as well as a great deal more grounded and mentally tough compared to the one who betrayed me. She wouldn't collapse mentally if merely threatened.

"Taylor Hebert!" Master Clarke called from the room as another student left.

I sighed and stood up. Time to see what my powers in this world were.

 **OK, before anyone says anything; yes, I am aware that this chapter is both compressed and rushed. Were I actually writing it as a story, the events outlined in this chapter would take place over three, perhaps four, chapters instead, allowing for greater detail and more content. As it is, this is just to give you an idea of the world and magic of this setting.**

 **Oh, and it must be said that I LOATHE AutoCorrupt. A thousand curses on it…**


	103. Soul Transmigration Chapter 2

**Soul Transmigration Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 102)**

Entering the small room off to the side of the classroom, I saw that Master Clarke was seated on a chair in front of something which took up most of the room. It was a circular engraving that resembled the circle of the Spheres that he had drawn on the board, symbols included.

"It seems like only yesterday I was teaching your parents." Master Clarke mused as I walked towards him. "Annette could have been a Master had she truly applied herself. Danny as well."

"Dad's a Mage?" I blinked.

"He has his skill mainly in the Spheres of Earth and Nature, just as your mother's skills are mainly in Water, Life and Light." The old mage said gruffly. "It's a shame that the Spheres of the Parents are not passed on to the children; if they were, you would be an extraordinarily talented Mage."

"So they don't run in families?" I asked.

"Not exactly. It is certainly possible, quite likely in fact, that you will be skilled in at least _one_ Sphere that one your parents can use, but more often than not a child has completely different Spheres to either parent or even either set of grandparents. An ongoing, but rather fruitless, path of study is figuring out how a person's Spheres are determined. As of yet, all it has done is eat up a not inconsiderable amount of time, money and effort for no results." Clarke huffed.

So kinda like powers back on Earth Bet were to the general public (and most of the world's heroes, villains and rogues) sans those assholes called Cauldron.

"Anyway, please sit down cross-legged on the floor there." Master Clarke said, indicating the circle in the center of the ring of Spheres. "Once you do, the Spheres will light up to indicate which ones you are best suited for."

"A magic item?" I asked in shock. Even nobles had a hard time getting their hands on one!

"Not _as such_ , no." Clarke explained. "There are a few tiers of such items. At the very bottom are Enchanted Items. These are one-use only items, or items that have to be periodically recharged with magic. Next are the standard Magic Items, which can range from the Sword of Striking issued to a Lieutenant in a country's Army, to a stove that can cook without wood. At a level above that, which is as high as humans can go, are the Ensorcelled Items, which is what this circle is. These are powerful devices that are usually in very limited numbers and created by Master Mages. The elves go even higher with what we humans refer to as Relic Items. They far surpass even the best Ensorcelled Items created by humankind by a considerable margin. At the very, very top, we have Sacred Treasures, created by people unknown. Even figuring out how to _use_ one without a horrible accident will get you acclaim from the world's magic users. As of yet, no one has ever successfully created on in the past three millennia, not since the Great Cataclysm."

I made a note to look that period up. It was ringing alarm bells to me.

Nodding, I walked over and sat in the center of the device as instructed. To my shock, bubbles appeared above the symbols on the ground and started to fill with a coloured light, unique to each Sphere.

"The fuller a bubble, the more ability you have with a particular Sphere." Master Clarke explained to me. "It should only take another half a minute or so to finish."

Humming my agreement, I made a note to myself to see about getting some better quality robes tailored for myself; these off-the-rack ones were itchy like you wouldn't believe.

"And…done." Clarke said with a nod. "My, my, my. Like Parents, like child. I think we can expect a great deal from you in the future, Miss Hebert. You show exceptional talent in the Spheres of Mind, Death, Darkness, Water and Nature. You are also modestly skilled in Earth, Wind, Fire and Life. Your Talent with Sound and Light is below average, while you show no talent whatsoever with the Sphere of Shadow."

OK, I could see Mind, as I was experienced at controlling insects and…people…during my time as a Cape. Death…yeah, I'd been around a lot of it. Darkness was a surprise. Water and Nature, not so much. I'd grown up around Brockton Bay (in both worlds), so I could see Water. As for Nature? I'd controlled all sorts of bugs and spiders, so maybe that had something to do with it.

"Thank you, Master." I stood and bowed to him.

"Professor." Clarke corrected me. "Only call a mage 'Master' if it's either an official function and they _are_ a Master Mage, or if a Mage takes you as an official Apprentice, in which case it is a requirement."

"OK, Professor." I replied. "Should I send the next person in?"

"Yes, please do." Master Clarke nodded.

Leaving, I sent the next person in and headed back to my seat, where Emma pounced on me. "What's the result?" she asked eagerly.

"Mind, Death, Darkness, Water and Nature." I answered. "Those are my main ones, anyway. You never said what your lesser talents are, by the way."

"Oh. Um, Fire, Wind and Shadow." She replied. "Wow, that girl looks _pissed_."

The girl in question was Sophia Hess. She had just stomped out of the room to the side looking as if she were about to punch someone.

"I think we should stay clear of her." I muttered to Emma, who nodded nervously.

"I hope we aren't in any classes together." She said, fiddling with her long red hair.

I winced slightly. If this Sophia was anything like her Earth Bet counterpart, then she was almost certain to have the Shadow Sphere. I had no talent with it myself, which meant that Emma and Sophia were going to be in close proximity to one another for at least one class without me.

This did not bode well.

 _Next Day_

It was Introduction to Magic again and I was busy reading the textbook-slash-primer that we had all been given after this class yesterday. Not that I'd had much time to read it; after Master Clarke's class yesterday, there had been the whole moving in business and the tearful farewells (Dad's hanky was soaked from his crying), not to mention discovering that yes, this version of Sophia Hess was as big a bitch as her Earth Bet alternate.

As in my original world, the Hess family was poor. Not so poor as to live in slums, but poor enough that it took all hands on deck to make ends meet. With the great divide between poor and even middle class, this gave Sophia a chip the size of a ship on her shoulder when dealing with nobles. Fortunately for her family, Sophia having magic earned them a substantial stipend from the kingdom, more than enough that they didn't need to work fourteen hours a day in order to not starve or get thrown out of their home.

All this I gathered from Sophia and, surprisingly, Flechette, otherwise known as Lily. Apparently they both lived in the same area in Brockton Bay.

This was so weird; it was like every hero my age from Brockton Bay was here! Even Missy Biron, _Vista_ , was here! Looks like she'd been born earlier in this world, even if she was just as adorably petite as in my old world. Clockblocker, Browbeat…was that _Weld_?! In human form? Good god, this was going to be a real case of déjà vu for me.

Master Clarke bustled in and brought the room to attention. "All right. Now, yesterday, we covered the Twelve Major Spheres, which will be the primary focus of your studies, as well as glossing over the Lesser Spheres. Today, we are going to cover the group of Spheres that no Mage is permitted to study…the so-called 'Forbidden' Spheres."

Gesturing at the board, five circles appeared at his command. "There are currently five Spheres which no Mage is permitted to study under any circumstances." He continued sternly. "Anyone who is proven to practice magic linked to these Spheres is instantly condemned to death. Be warned that there are excellent reasons for these Spheres being forbidden. Wiser and more intelligent minds than you or I possess have decided this, so do NOT practice them. Understood?"

After a chorus of agreement, Master Clark made a skull appear in the first circle. "The most well-known of the Forbidden Spheres is Necromancy. Or, to be absolutely accurate, Necro-animation. Necromancy itself is a spell used in the Sphere of death that permits the user to speak to the spirits of the dead. Necro-animation is using the energy of death to animate the bodies of the deceased, as well as a few spells to absorb life force from the living. The worst necromancer in history appeared a century ago in the Baltic Kingdom, laying waste to over half of the islands of that once prosperous and proud kingdom before he was taken down by the Great Mage Mordalfus. Necro-animation has been forbidden since far longer ago than that, but the death penalty for practicing a Forbidden Sphere was instituted at that time."

"Why's the Pirate Marquis still sailing around then?" Vicky Dallon asked suspiciously.

"Because, Miss Dallon, he does _not_ practice Necro-animation." Clarke answered in resignation. "He practices the Lesser Spheres of Bones and of Locomotion in concert to make his skeleton soldiers move. How he makes those skeletons has never been proven."

I eyed Amy, but she ignored the verbal attack on her father. She must be used to people doing that.

"The second Forbidden Sphere is the Sphere of Pain." Master Clarke continued, gesturing and making a man's face, twisted in agony, to appear in the second circle. "This Sphere in entirely about learning how best to torture and torment someone using pain. One particularly twisted individual even learned enough to become a _Master_ of the Sphere of Pain, gaining the ability to overload someone's mind with countless waves of pain, reducing them to gibbering vegetables."

I shivered at that. It was right out of that Earth Aleph book about a snake-faced guy with the three evil spells or something like that.

"The third is the Sphere of Mutation." Clarke stated. The picture this time was of some kind of ball with hands and tentacles coming out of it. Gross!

"Mutation is the corruption of the Sphere of Life, twisted to create monsters and warp people's bodies." Master Clarke said sternly. "There are already quite enough naturally occurring monsters without idiots creating new and more malicious monsters, so keep in mind that this is one that every soldier and mage will be most irked at you for doing."

Another wave created…a swirl? It kinda looked like the Milky Way.

"Fourth is the Sphere of Pestilence, otherwise known as the Plague Sphere." The old Master stated. "Disease, pestilence, plagues…all of these are governed by this Sphere. It is a very obscure, very difficult Sphere to learn, but you all might recall hearing of the Plague that swept through the Holy Union of Orion ten years ago. That was a plague generated by the infamous Master Mage known only as Bonesaw."

Oh…oh shit. The Nine. The goddamn Slaughterhouse Nine were here too! Fuck.

"Finally, the fifth Forbidden Sphere is the Sphere of Chaos." Master Clarke stated, placing a star in the last circle. "Of all of the Spheres that are proscribed, this is the most subtle, the most insidious. It infects people, nudging them to act with less rationality just a tad. That's all basic Chaos Magic can accomplish. At first, at least. As a Chaos Mage becomes more proficient in their Sphere, their reach becomes longer and their power becomes stronger. Fifty years ago, the Chaos Master Mage known only as Simoorg reduced the disciplined Military Empire of Nul into a blood-soaked land of the dead. Literally the entire kingdom, every man, woman and child on every single island in their island chain, was instantly driven insane and killed one another, even killing livestock and wild animals when no people were about. Even now, no one has set foot there again in fear of being driven mad by Simoorg, who still dwells there, for all we know."

The fucking _Endbringers_ were here too?!

"You will be given a lecture on the dangers of these five proscribed Spheres once a month so long as you are at this Academy." The old Master went on. "I cannot stress enough that _anyone_ who has learned _any_ of these five to a reasonable degree is a danger to _everyone_ around them. Should you ever be confronted by one, do not attempt to fight them. Turn and run, as fast as you are able, putting obstacles in between you and them all the while. It is quite possibly the only thing that you can do."

Looking around to ensure that his point had been driven home, Master Clarke nodded and continued. "Now, to explain magic in a bit more depth."

With another gesture, a single circle replaced the Forbidden Spheres on the board.

"Each Sphere is separated into Circles of power." Clarke started. "The most basic of basic spells in any Sphere are Circle 0 spells that any ordinary human can use. Examples such as [Call Lesser Light] and [Darken] from the Spheres of Light and Darkness respectively.

"Any Sphere has _at least_ ten Circles in it, but there are frequently more." He continued, making concentric rings appear in the circle. "One can be called competent once they have reached Circle 5 in a Sphere and a Master once they reach Circle 10. Master Mages are far rarer than you might think, as most people who attend Magic Academies are either nobles who have lands and more mundane duties to attend to after graduation, merchants who have family responsibilities of their own or commoners who have signed a contract requiring them to serve in the army of the Kingdom for a handful of years in exchange for a stipend for their families and their education."

Made sense.

"The first three Circles of any Sphere, so long as you have a small degree talent in them, are relatively easy to attain. After that, it becomes steadily more and more difficult to attain the next level." Master Clarke stated, pacing back and forth at the front of the classroom. "If you attempt to learn a Sphere with which you have no talent in, it changes from difficult to almost impossible. I speak from experience, as I only showed talent in half of the Major Spheres. As of right now, the Spheres with which I showed no talent for are barely at Circle 4, despite all of my efforts."

Wow. The guy had to be pushing eighty and he hadn't been able to get the Spheres that he had no talent with above competent? Talk about a hurdle. Then again, it shows how much effort that he put into getting them to that level despite the hurdle that was presented by his lack of talent in them.

"The next thing we must talk about if the _focus_ of a Sphere, as that has a direct correlation to how quickly you can learn it." The master said, ceasing his pacing. "Now, does anyone have any idea what I mean by a Sphere's focus?"

I hesitantly raised my hand, the only one to do so.

"Ah, Miss Hebert. Go on."

"The focus of a Sphere would be how narrow or wide it is." I said hesitantly. "For example, Nature, covering plants, animals, earth, growth, storms and others, would have a very wide focus, whereas a sub-Sphere of Nature like…the Sphere of Cultivation, would only deal with the growth of very specific types of plants, so it would be classed as having a narrow focus."

Master Clarke clapped once in delight. "Excellent! A perfect answer. That is indeed what I mean by focus. A Sphere with a wide focus has a lot to learn about it, meaning that you have to learn a variety of different but related subjects in order to master it. By contrast, a Sphere with a narrow focus does not require you to learn nearly as much, allowing you to learn it much quicker compared to a wide focus Sphere. It is for that reason that you find, for example, relatively few Storm Mages compared to Rain or Lightning Mages. It is simply quicker and easier to learn a part of it rather than the entire thing."

Looking up, he said, "For those of you, who have a relatively narrow Sphere, such as one of the four elements, I would recommend you focus on that one first in order to have at least one that you can have confidence in. Also, if you get that first one squared away quickly, it leaves you plenty of time to learn your other Spheres. Now, hands up if you are joining the army for a standard length of time after you leave the Academy?"

Most of the commoners in the room raised their arms, along with a handful of the nobles.

"I suppose I had better go into the various classifications of Mages while I am at it then." Master Clarke mused. "Now, a standard stint in the Army of the Kingdom of Sirius is five years. Mages enter the Magic Corps, where you are further subdivided depending on the style of Mage that you are. They can be roughly divided into Vanguard, Rearguard and Support."

"Vanguard Mages are magic users who can handle themselves with a blade as well as magic. The three main categories of Vanguard Mages are War Blade, Battle Mage and Shadow Blade. War Blades fight on the front lines, dealing damage to the enemy with blade and spell. Usually they specialize in only a single offensive Sphere above all others, but they are very effective.

"By contrast, Battle Mages are skilled with a wide variety of Spheres of both offence and defence. Some may not be ranked higher than the 3rd Circle or so, but with such a wide pool of spells to draw upon, they are usually considered more deadly than the War Blades. The Shadow Blades infiltrate enemy positions to sow confusion amongst them, as well as to sabotage equipment, assassinate officers and poison their food and water. Overlooked by most, but valued by those who do not, they have been the key to many a victory."

So One-Trick Ponies, Jack-of-All-Trade-Masters-of-None and rogues.

"Rearguard Mages are those who lack the ability to defend themselves in close quarters combat to the degree needed to be a Vanguard. There are a lot of categories, but the main ones are Wizard, Summoner, Bulwark and Shielder." Master Clarke continued. "Wizards are basically magical artillery, lobbing their spells at the enemy to great effect. Summoners are those who make pacts with the elemental creatures of their Spheres in order to call them forth to fight on their behalf. Bulwarks create, maintain and repair fortifications that protect the rest of the army. Finally, Shielders specialize in creating shields of both energy and of matter to protect an army from magical and mundane bombardment.

"Support Mages are basically where all other Mages who do not fall into either the Vanguard or Rearguard roles go to. This includes Healers, Seers, Communications Mages and others." Master Clarke finished. "There are no roles that are more important than the others; all are necessary in order for an army to succeed in battle. You may be wondering why I am telling you this, even those of you who are not planning on joining the army. The answer is simple; once you graduate from this Academy, should war be declared by the Kingdom, all Mages older than sixteen, aside from those of Royalty and those who have criminal histories, are required to serve in the army until the completion of the war. The only exceptions are those who serve a vital role in the government, such as Lord Hebert."

"Why's he get a pass?" Clockblocker…no, Dennis dammit…asked.

"Master Mage Daniel Hebert, Earl of Leviathan Ridge, is the first Master Mage of the Sphere of Cultivation." The old man smirked at the surprise in the faces of my classmates. Hell, _I_ was surprised! "No one else has ever bothered with the Sphere of Cultivation, but because of Lord Hebert, the crops on the fields of Brockton Island produce more abundant crops than anywhere in the Kingdom. They are also disease and pest free because of his competency in both Earth and Nature Magic. His position is one of vital importance to the Kingdom's ability to feed its citizens and the army, so he will stay rather firmly put on Brockton Island during a war."

Wow…so Dad was a lot more important than I thought. That just made the Soul Magic attack on me all the more suspicious. This version of my Dad wasn't as likely to collapse in on himself as he had been in my original world, as Mom was alive and he would be slapped out of any depression with haste by her, but it would still be a hit to his abilities if I were to be murdered. Hmm…

"And with that…" Master Clarke said as the bell rung. "Off to lunch with you."

 **Evil Cutoff Point Technique…complete…**


	104. Soul Transmigration Chapter 3

**Soul Transmigration Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 102)**

In the cafeteria, Emma and I sat together as we ate. The food was really rather good; fresh warm bread, a soup and some kind of fish dish. I wonder if they had a way of removing the pungent fishy smell in the kitchens?

"What do you think of what the professor said, Taylor?" Emma said as she tore her bread into pieces.

"About what?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The whole war thing. And how we'd get forced to join the army if war was declared." My friend said in a small voice.

"Ah." I nodded. "Sadly, it's almost inevitable that it's going to happen."

"Huh?" Emma looked confused.

"Every twenty years or so, the Theocracy of Libra attempts to invade us." I reminded her. The Theocracy was one of those crusader-type religions that had to stuff their religion down your throat, according to my Mom. They had set their eyes on us for the past century. "The last invasion was fifteen years ago; that means the year after we graduate, we're almost certainly going to see combat."

"O-oh…" Emma's nervousness grew at my words.

I sighed. "Ems, you have the Spheres of Life and Water, right? I'd suggest you train as a Healer. That'll keep you out of the actual fighting if it comes to it."

That made her prick up in curiosity. "What about you?" she asked me, looking a bit relieved to have a way to contribute without fighting directly.

"Well, I _do_ have access to all of the Primary Spheres barring Shadow, so I could be a Battlemage." I mused. "Then again, I have to admit that a Summoner sounds interesting. I suppose it all depends on how much magical power I have."

From skimming my little textbook, I could see that the amount of magical power you possessed was one way of narrowing down what niche you should enter as a mage. Emma wouldn't have very much in the way of magical power as she was the first one in her family to have any whatsoever, so a Support Mage was the best way to ensure that she survived whilst still being useful.

In my case though, I would likely have at least an above-average amount of magical power, as my family had been mages for over three centuries. The first Baron Hebert had been ennobled after he saved the life of the Founding King of Sirius during the final battle with the warlord who had control of Brockton Island. I had no idea what he had been skilled in though.

"Yeah…I don't want you to become a Battlemage, Taylor." Emma said seriously. "You're my best friend and I don't want you to be in danger."

My heart twisted at that. "Well, I won't be. Summoners fight with their summons, thus the name." I said lightly. "So we're good. So what's your room like?"

Nobles and commoners slept in separate areas for the first couple of days, and then we got to choose whoever we wanted to be our roommates, so long as they were the same gender as us. Oh, and we first years shared a room with three others in our year. That continued into second year, with us being shuffled into two person rooms in third year and the OPTION to be moved into a one-person room in fourth year.

"A bit boring, but nice." Emma replied. "You?"

"I'm sharing with a couple of girls who don't like 'Newbloods' very much." I grimaced. "They've basically been ignoring me though, so that's something."

A flicker of anger passed across Emma's face at that revelation. "Idiots." She muttered quietly as she viciously stabbed part of her fish.

"The nobility is full of them, myself and a few others exempted." I smirked before polishing off what was left of my meal. "Anyway, we'd better get back to class so we can claim our seats. I think the next part is actually measuring our magic and being told how spells work."

As it turns out, I was right.

"Now, all of you have magic, that cannot be denied." Master Clarke said as he once more paced at the front of the classroom once again. "But the remaining unknown aspect of you all is the amount of magical power that you possess. Magic is held within all living beings as the magic of their life-force. Mages have an extra well or reservoir of magic that they draw upon to cast spells. The size of this well differs from person to person and their heritage is in part what determines its size. Someone who is the first mage in their family will generally have a modestly sized pool of magic, while someone who has had mages in their family for hundreds of years will have an above average amount at least."

Yup, that jibes with what Mom said.

"As a mage grows older, so too does their pool of magic grow with them. Additionally, the more you use magic, the faster it will grow." The old mage stated. "Your choices in what manner of Mage Path that you take, the ones I discussed with you all before lunch, are in part determined by what Spheres you have talent in and in part determined by the amount of magical energy you can access. We would be most remiss if we allowed someone to become a Warblade who has only modest skill in the more combat orientated Spheres, for example."

With a gesture from him, a box floated out from behind the lecturer's podium, landed atop of it and opened, revealing an orb of crystal. It was tinted green and was a perfect sphere.

"This is the magic power measuring crystal." Master Clarke informed us. "It is able to measure the magical reserves of the person who touches it with both hands. A powerful and rare item, as I am sure you will all agree. Now, do I have a volunteer to demonstrate?"

Nobody raised their hands for a moment before I sighed, rolled my eyes and stood up. Bloody sheeple. OK, perhaps that's a _bit_ much; they are only kids right now.

"Ah, Miss Hebert." Master Clarke nodded with a smile. "Come forward then."

I advanced to the front of the room and awaited instructions.

"All you need do is to press your hands flat to the surface of the orb; the magic within it shall do the rest." Master Clarke informed me.

Nodding, I did as ordered. The surface of the orb was cool to the touch, but it warmed up slightly as both of my palms made contact with it. It started to glow green for a moment before unleashing an invisible wind that swept around my body, making my hair flutter.

"Oh my." Master Clarke muttered.

After a few moments of this, the wind died down and a number was projected in the air above me. **359**.

"A magic power in the _mid-three-hundreds_ at the age of _twelve_ …yes, this proves that great things can be expected of you." The class professor said to me admiringly before turning to the class. "For most Commoners in your age group, getting a score above seventy-five is considered excellent. For the average noble in your age group, _double_ that is the average. For Miss Hebert, it seems, getting over _triple_ the amount of the average noble is her score."

Blushing at all the attention, I headed back to my seat, where Emma smirked at me. She knew that I hated people staring at me.

"Quiet you." I muttered as I fought to get my blush under control. The redheaded hellion just giggled at me. Grrr.

In the meantime, my other classmates started getting picked randomly and having their own magic power measured. Dean Stansfield weighed in at 210, while Vicky Dallon was 257. Wow. If I weren't here, those two would likely be the top two in the class.

Chris, the former Kid Win, was at 173, with Lily/ Flechette at 181 and Sophia/Shadow Stalker at 150 exactly. This was a surprise; perhaps her father was a noble in this world? Clockblocker was at 141, Weld was at 199 and the heavily muscled kid I recognised as being Browbeat from my last world was at 167.

When Emma was called, I crossed my fingers. The number floating above her head was a surprise; 149. She was almost double the average amount of a usually exceptional commoner. She even had more than Dennis, who was the son of a baron here.

"Nice." I commented as she came back, looking stunned.

"H-How…?" she said numbly.

"You hang around with me, and I'm all kinds of exceptional when it comes to magic, apparently." I teased. "Maybe part of me rubbed off on you."

She pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at me. How mature.

I generally ignored the magical power of the others who weren't figures I knew from my world, but one, who I hadn't noticed was a young girl called Teresa Richter, got magical power of 205. Fucking _Dragon_ was here too?! And my age to boot?!

Who next? Armsmaster?

The last people that I recognised were Missy Biron, Vista, getting 175, and Amelia Lavere, Panacea, getting 193. A quite respectable pair of scores, given that most kids in the class, the Brocktonites aside, were usually a few digits above or below the averages of their respective social classes.

"Well then, you all know how strong you are right now." Master Clarke stated. "However, this is merely the raw power that you have. In a few moments, you will be dismissed from class and sent to your rooms. Once there, you will swallow this."

Reaching under his lectern again, he pulled out a crystal about the size of a pistol's bullet, maybe a couple of centimeters smaller.

"This is a precious resource that is the main reason the Commoners among you give military service without the backing of a Noble House." He stated. "These are called Magic Concentration Crystals; once you swallow them and start to meditate, they are absorbed into your body and become your Magic Core Crystal. While you can cast magic without a Core Crystal, it is almost impossible to direct it, so those who lack a Core Crystal are referred to as Wild Mages, as their results are wildly unpredictable."

He looked sternly at everyone in the class. "Let it be known that attempting to steal another person's Magic Concentration Crystal, or otherwise attempting to stop them from swallowing it, is a very serious matter here. Anyone who does this will be confined to their dorm room for a month. Understood?"

Seeing nods, Master Clarke continued. "Do not worry about being unable to mediate before now; this time if at no other time in your life, you will be able to do so. It is one of the functions of the crystals. It should take approximately four hours to create your magical core. For the four with the most power, Miss Hebert, Miss Dallon, Mr. Stansfield and Miss Richter; yours will likely take an extra hour to form, as that is common to all those with magical power of over 200. Miss Hebert especially is an unknown, because no one in the Kingdom in living memory has had as high a magical power score as she has without already possessing a Core Crystal. There have been several in other kingdoms, so I will endeavor to talk to my colleagues in the relevant locales, so kindly wait in class until I can tell you for certain how long your meditation session will be, Miss Hebert."

"Yes, Professor." I said.

"Very good." He looked around. "Now, I have a feeling that some of you know some magic, or at least a general idea about casting spells, from your parents. Do _not_ attempt to cast any spells whatsoever until I or another Master have cleared you tomorrow, because while you may _superficially_ know how to cast spells, the truth of the matter is far more complicated and intimate than you might imagine. Every year, at least one member of the class decides that he or she knows better than I do and ends up exploding their newly formed Core Crystals and most of the room they are in, to boot. I would like this year to be _without_ that particular tradition, if you please."

Victoria Dallon put her hand up. "Is that deadly? An exploding Core Crystal, that is?"

"No, merely highly debilitating. It would force the staff to heal the subject and let them rest for a week before attempting to integrate yet another crystal." Master Clarke said dryly. "Just so you know, we only provide the nobles with _one_ crystal for free. Any further crystals given as a result of stupidity and carelessness are charged to your Family's account. That would be two-hundred Golden Fangs, just so you know."

A gasp went up among the students. The Golden Fang was the highest denomination of currency inside the Kingdom of Sirius. One Golden Fang was worth one-hundred Silver Claws, and one Silver Claw was worth two-hundred Bronze Tails. For comparison, I received five Golden Fangs a month as pocket money. That's forty months, or just over three years' worth, of pocket money there!

No wonder everyone was pale!

"You may think it a steep price, but these crystals take three months to produce in highly strenuous circumstances. To be honest, they should be priced higher, but because of the good relationship between the Academy and the Kingdom of Sirius, we mark them down somewhat." Master Clarke smiled softly. "Now, class dismissed. Please take ONE crystal from the basket on my lectern as you leave."

Under Master Clarke's watchful eye, everyone filed in front of him and took a crystal. None were any bigger or smaller, so it was fair. I sat down once I had mine and shooed Emma away so she could hurry up and get to creating her Core Crystal.

After everyone left, including Master Clarke, I just sat and read the textbook for a while. I frowned when I read something in the section regarding the Nature Sphere.

' **It should be noted that, up until the publication of this book, not a single human Mage has ever successfully gained so much as a single Circle in the Lesser Sphere of Insects. It has been deemed an impossible Sphere for humans, who lack the instinctive connection to Nature that the Elves possess.'**

I checked the publication date, which was only five years ago. Was it really such a hard Sphere to master? I could see that I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to recreate Skitter here as a Summoner. Then again, I had no idea how Summoners worked here, so perhaps I should wait until I'd had an introduction to how Summoners functioned before making any decisions.

"Miss Hebert." Master Clarke said seriously as he came into the classroom. "I've just finished talking to a colleague of mine in the Divine Kingdom. He informed me that you will be meditating for at least seven hours, possibly as many as ten, before your Core Crystal is formed."

"That's…quite a long time." I said, somewhat stunned. That was over twice what everyone else was going to have to go through! What the hell?!

"As you will likely not be compos mentis afterwards, I'll be escorting you to your new room presently." He continued. "Do you have any preferences as to roommates?"

"Emma Barnes. She's my best friend." I said at once. "I, ah…don't really know anyone else here that well. But…Emma's a bit nervous about that Sophia Hess girl…"

"Yes, Miss Hess _does_ have a somewhat intimidating character." Master Clarke said with a wince. "I shall note that she is not to be considered as one of your roommates. Would you have anything against Miss Lavere?"

I blinked. "She's not her father, so why would I?"

"I see your father's sense of fair play at hand here." He chuckled. "If only others were as tolerant. Come now, we had better get you settled."

Standing up, I followed Master Clarke to the middle dorm building, which was the actual dormitory. The two buildings that my peers were sleeping in were just for the initial few days of term as the third, second and first years moved their stuff up to the next floor to become fourth, third and second years respectively.

"This room is reserved for the person with the highest magical power count at the start of term." Master Clarke said, pointing at the solid oak door before us. "That honour goes to you, Miss Hebert."

"Thank you, Professor." I said, my heart beating softly in my chest. "Do…do you have any advice? About making my Core Crystal, I mean?"

"Take your time; do not be impatient." He stated firmly as he opened the door for me. "The absolute worst thing that you can do is rush the construction of your core; doing so leaves it fragile and prone to breaking if you strain it. A solid mage has a solid Core Crystal. Just let things flow naturally and you will achieve the results you need."

"Thank you professor." I repeated. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Swallowing, I entered the room and he shut it behind me, leaving me alone. Thankfully, the magical technology here was very useful; light globes cast their brilliance without flickering. I was glad for that, as without them, eye-strain would be a common affliction.

The room was modestly large, which made sense as it was designed to hold four girls for a year. There were four beds, lined up in a row, one of which had all of my stuff on it. Clambering atop it, I looked at the crystal in my hand; I had to wonder if this was anything like what those people back on Earth Bet, who had bought powers in a bottle, had felt like before taking the plunge? Granted, I already had the powers; this was simply a way of being able to use them properly, but the comparison was there.

"Please don't turn me back into that _thing_ I was going to become." I said to the innocent-looking crystal sitting on my hand, feeling foolish. "I would rather truly die that become that monster again, so please…don't turn me into the puppet of the [Queen Administrator] again."

Prayer for no apparent reason to the inanimate stone in my hand complete, I opened my mouth and swallowed the crystal in one gulp before placing myself into a cross-legged sitting position and focused. For whatever reason, I somehow knew how to meditate and fell into it as easily as riding a bike. The world dropped away around me and I found myself floating above a pool of light.

Well, it was actually _two_ pools, not one. They were so close together that they overlapped somewhat, so it was an easy mistake to make. Huh…wait a moment…I think I know why there's two; one was my pool, while the other was from the Taylor from this world. Hers was a little bigger than mine too, so my powerful magical power was as a result of me and my alternate sharing a body…

Wait a moment, how was that _possible_ …unless…had my soul been attached to my alternate's own like a limpet? And when my _alternate's_ soul had been…destroyed… _mine_ had awakened to fill her place? Was that it? Was that even possible?

Driving the errant thought off, I focused on the task at hand. Building a Magic Core now, worry about Metaphysical bullshit later.

As I concentrated on the idea of a core, little motes of light emerged from the two pools and started dancing around before moving around two points. Wait, what?

It was too late to stop it though; more and more motes of light emerged from my pools and started to build up the two cores that I somehow had. Oh, wait…it was because I had two pools. One pool equals one core. I really had no idea about if it was a good idea to have two separate cores in one body. Would they cause dissonance?

As if responding to my thoughts, more specks of light rose up from the pools and started to form a lattice, a framework of sorts around the two cores, or rather, around the size the two cores would eventually become. Ok, so this would hopefully prevent any dissonance between the cores, harmonizing them. I'd better reinforce them, just to be certain that they wouldn't break if I had to push myself hard magically.

More flecks of light were added to the lattice around my growing cores. After that was done, I sat back (metaphorically speaking) and watched the cores grow. Each was the size of a grapefruit right now, while the harmonizing lattice was about the size of a pair of medicine balls, with a kind of connecting tunnel between the two globes. It kinda looked like a cartoon dumbbell, now I came to think of it. The kind you saw in _The Pink Panther_ and the old Walt Disney cartoons.

After an indeterminate time, the motes of light finally stopped coming and my cores changed from light to solid pieces of crystal, each the size of a basketball and as solid as a piece of granite. I looked them over from every angle to try and see and perceivable flaw or crack and I was lucky enough to find none.

Abruptly, I was ripped from my mental world and thrust back into my body with a complete lack of warning. I gasped, then coughed as my eyes snapped open and my body started registering protesting limbs, a dry throat and an empty stomach.

"Taylor! Thank the gods!" Emma leapt at me out of nowhere. Thankfully, I was able to unfurl my legs in time to avoid her squashing them while they were crossed. "What the hells have you been doing?!"

"Ems? What time is it?" I asked hoarsely. "Also, water please?"

"You've been meditating for close on twelve hours straight." Another voice said. Blinking to see who was talking, my vision cleared.

"You're…?" I said as someone (not Emma, as she was still hugging me) pressed a cup to my lips. I drank greedily.

"The name's Lily." The person I now recognised as my former (reluctant) Undersider teammate on Earth Bet, Flechette/Foil. "Got no last name."

"Nice to meet you." I said once I swallowed the water. "Ems, I'm fine now. Tired, but fine. Do you think you could let me up?"

Reluctantly, Emma detached herself from me and I sat up, my body protesting the movement after so long stationary.

"Twelve hours? I must've taken Professor Clarke's words too much to heart." I mused. "I spent a long time making my core."

"Is that normal?" Emma asked in concern.

"I haven't the faintest idea. Professor Clarke said I would take at least seven to ten hours to form my core, so twelve might not be out of the question." I shrugged.

"You are entirely too sanguine about this." A quiet voice said. I looked up to see Amelia Lavere looking at me severely. "You have an idea as to why you might have taken so long, don't you?"

"A hunch." I shrugged. "About six months ago, I was attacked by someone magically. I overheard my parents say that it was Soul Magic that was used. I think that might have something to do with it."

Not _entirely_ a lie, but also not the truth either.

"Soul Magic…? It's entirely possible that it may have interfered with you creating a core." Amelia frowned. "Soul is a very rare Sphere though. Just off the top of my head, I know of only five or so Mages who use it. All of them are high-ranking members of enemy kingdoms, so that doesn't do much to narrow down your enemies."

"Why attack a twelve-year old girl though?" Lily asked with a frown.

"To attack my father." I said with a sigh. "His ability to maintain his spells would have taken a major hit if I had been killed or put into a coma. Not for long, mind, as my mother would have first kicked him into gear and then gone to His Majesty to find out who attacked me."

"And the King would have listened to her?" Amelia asked with an eyebrow raised in query.

"Yes. Dad's one of the members of the nobility who are most loyal to the crown." I answered firmly. "An attack on the family of a loyal retainer would get His Majesty to investigate who killed me. As I survived though, I don't know if Dad or Mom did anything."

"Hmm." The Pirate Marquis' daughter nodded. "Attacking the kingdom's food sources as a precursor…perhaps it was a gambit by the Libra Theocracy?"

"Possibly." I yawned. "Do I have to go to class? I'm kind of tired."

"Master Clarke said no." Emma said as she stood up. "I'll copy notes for you from all the classes I have today, so you can look them over tomorrow. Get some shuteye, Tay."

I blinked. In this world, Emma hadn't called me that since we were little kids. "Thanks, Ems."

As the other three left the room, I noticed Amelia eying me appraisingly. Great, she was definitely her father's daughter in this world. She was probably thinking how to turn this situation to her best advantage or something like that. Urgh, I'm too tired for this crap. Sleep now, worry about the politicking of twelve-year-old daughters of Pirate Lords later.

 **Writing Taylor from anything other than first person is very hard, so I'm going to make an effort to write all of my Worm ficlets in first person from here on out, unless the perspective comes from characters other than Taylor.**

 **And yes, I am aware that these initial chapters are way too info-dump heavy. As I said back at chapter 102, I would normally space these things out over a couple of chapters rather than a single one like I'm doing here. The point that a lot of people forget is that these chapters are a way of introducing people to the world I am crafting here, so the infodumping is kinda necessary.**


	105. Soul Transmigration Chapter 4

**Soul Transmigration Chapter 4 (original chapter Chapter 102)**

 _One Month Later_

The first month of the term after acquiring my unusual dual core was surprisingly laid back. All of what we learned was theory, accompanied by practical demonstrations. This was because, in addition to creating our cores, the crystal we swallowed created metaphysical 'veins' leading from our cores, located in the center of our chests, to the palms of our hands.

A mage's most important limbs, aside from their heads, were their arms. With both arms, we could cast both efficiently and quickly. With one arm, our casting speed would be halved. With no arms…well, we wouldn't be able to cast, point blank. It was for this reason that maiming mages' arms was strictly forbidden universally, unless it was someone who practiced one of the Forbidden Spheres; in that case the main object of any spellcasting was to hack their arms off ASAP.

I had gotten to know most of my classmates fairly well in that time, with the exceptions of Sophia (as you'd expect; the girl did hate nobles) and Dragon. Teresa Richter held herself apart unless it was absolutely necessary to interact with her classmates for a discussion. Even then, it was strictly on-topic. Any attempt to draw her out of her shell made her clam up faster than a nun under a vow of silence.

The Richter family were Earls as well, noted for their contributions to the magical research of the Kingdom of Sirius and for their key role in acting as the guardians of the isle directly north of the Capital. Earl Andrew Richter was currently dying of an unknown ailment in his castle at Abaddon's Grief. This might explain why Dragon isn't as…gregarious as she could be; assuming that her father wasn't a complete bastard like he was back on Earth Bet, it was only natural to be withdrawn about her father dying.

Emma and I were getting on great; my initial wariness had fallen and it was… _nice_ …to have her as a friend. This Emma was stronger than her alternate on Earth Bet had been, mentally speaking, so it was good that I was able to separate the two in my mind. I would have missed out on a good friend if I hadn't.

Lily was getting no OK with us, but she hung out with Sophia a lot of the time, which meant she was somewhat distant to the rest of our classmates. Fine by me; if she wants to deal with Sophia, let her. Rather her than me.

As for my last roommate…well, she was…different. Compared to Amy Dallon, _Amelia Lavere_ was a lot more confident and self-assured, as well as not stressed to death because of overwork and an Aura-induced crush on her 'sister' Glory Girl. Amelia was also very clam and in control, frequently hanging back to observe our classmates with a calculating gaze.

I eventually got out of her that Marquis had negotiated a deal with the Headmaster of the Academy to allow Amelia to attend in exchange for several items of interest that the Pirate Lord had in his possession. Exactly what they were, I had no idea, but they had to be something important and special to persuade the staff here to listen to the request of an attempted regicide.

No one was outright hostile to her, but a lot of them were wary of her. Vicky Dallon ignored her completely, which was surreal to me. Just about the only people who talked to her on a frequent basis, professors aside, were Emma and I.

It was about this that she talked to me after class one day when we were alone.

"You really are quite a conundrum." She said as I wrote. We were in our room and I was finishing up the homework we had been issued. Like back in my original world, I liked to keep on top of it.

"How so?" I asked as I finished the last sentence and looked up at her lounging on her bed.

"You talk to me without caring about my father." She stated bluntly.

"Unless you're the Pirate Marquis under the most thorough and complete disguise spell in existence, I fail to see what makes _talking to you_ odd." I said dryly.

Amelia threw me a disbelieving look. "My father is rebelling against the crown and has raided ships and islands for supplies hundreds of times. Merely getting to know me will make you look suspicious in the eyes of the kingdom."

"I doubt that somehow." I shook my head. "The entire class is 'getting to know you' through proximity if nothing else. Will the Crown really be suspicious of an entire class of nobles and commoners simply because you were nearby? I highly doubt it."

The look of frustration on the usually in-control girl's face was interesting. "But _why_ are you talking to me so easily?!" she hissed.

I blinked at her. "You aren't your father. The sins of the father do not extend to his offspring. It wouldn't be fair."

"The famous Hebert fair play at hand, is it?" the Pirate scion asked skeptically.

That remark made me roll my eyes at her. My family was reputed to be highly honorable and scrupulously fair, even to our own disadvantage at times. There was a grain of truth to it; we didn't play down our income to try and alleviate our taxes and we did serve when called upon by the kingdom without trying to get out of it unless our duty dictated otherwise. Still, we were human.

"The _Taylor_ Hebert sense of fair play, yes." I informed her with a shrug. "I am more than my family name, Amelia. Just like you are more than your father's daughter. How we come into the world doesn't matter; what does is how we choose to live our lives once we are here. Nobles can be forces for good or evil, the same applying to commoners. I prefer to see how people act before judging them, rather than doing so based solely on what their family does or who is related to them."

Amelia stared at me with wide eyes, apparently unable to believe what I was saying. Damn, when had I inherited a good version of Lisa's powers? I hope that wasn't too mature for a twelve-year-old…

"You really are a conundrum." The girl shook her head as she spoke at last. "I don't think I've ever met someone as interesting as you in my whole life, which takes some doing considering who my father is."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult…" I said with a sigh.

After that, Amelia and I got on a bit better.

That was three weeks after the Crystal Cores were created. It was now the fourth week and we were now finally ready to use basic, simple spells. As such, this would be the last week that we would be taught by Master Clarke. Kind of a shame as he's a good teacher. He doesn't take any shit from people, doesn't have favorites and is tough but fair with everyone.

"Now class, you have all been waiting anxiously for the chance to cast magic." Master Clarke said from the front of the classroom. "And, much to my relief and surprise, none of you have tried to cast any magic. Thank you for making my job easier, children."

A few people giggled.

"Anyway…today I will demonstrate the most absolute basic spells known to all Mages. Then I will call a volunteer to the front to practice using the spells." He continued before holding one hand up, index finger extended. "First off… _ **Spirit of Light, come to my hand. Shine light, shine bright.**_ **[Little Light]!** "

Atop the tip of his finger an orb of light about the size of a walnut appeared.

"This spell, **[Little Light]** , is technically of the Sphere of Light, but it is not in any way difficult to use, even for those such as myself who have no skill in the Sphere of Light." Master Clarke stated. "It can illuminate your immediate surroundings, up to about a meter away in total darkness and more if it's twilight."

Snapping his fingers, he dispersed the light. "Dismissing it is as simple as cutting the flow of magical power to it. Before I go any further, I should explain about chanting. The chants and incantations that we use are basically a way to focus our minds onto the effect that we wish to create with our magical power. Magical power flows like water naturally, but we generally keep it locked up in our Cores most of the time. By speaking the words and willing our magical power to flow, the 'gates' on the core open up and release magical power through the veins and out of our hands, creating the effect if our focus and will are sufficient for the spell. Weak spells such as **[Little Light]** require almost no willpower and only a small amount of focus. As you rise in the Circles of a Sphere, the amount you will need of focus, willpower and magical power will steadily rise."

The Will and the Word? I think I remember reading a book that had a magic system like that…

"The next two spells are the ones that all Mages NEED to know for self-protection, even if you choose to become a Support Mage." Master Clarke said sternly. With a wave of one hand, a target board appeared on the other side of the classroom to his left. He walked to the door before turning about to face it and raised his hand.

" _ **Magic, gather and flow! Pierce my enemy with your might!**_ **[Magic Arrow]!** " He chanted.

A bolt of multi-colored light flew from his outstretched hand and struck the board, smashing through it like a hot knife through butter. Master Clarke then chanted another spell.

" _ **Magic, gather and flow! Enclose and protect me!**_ **[Magic Shield, Circle 1]!** "

A gold-colored globular shield snapped into existence around him instantly. He held it for a moment before dismissing it with a snap of his fingers.

"Those two spells, **[Magic Arrow]** and **[Magic Shield, Circle 1]** , are the most basic offensive and defensive spells known to Mages." Master Clarke stated. "As part of the end of year exams, ALL of you must demonstrate at least basic proficiency in these two spells. That is, they are a part of the exams no matter if it is your first, second, third or final year here. No matter if you are planning on becoming a noncombatant or if you plan on blasting the enemy from afar, basic competency of these simple spells is required for graduation. No exceptions are made."

Made sense; ensuring Mages could defend themselves from attackers ensured they survived and had kids, leading to more Mages.

The basics done, he got Vicky to demonstrate them all, which she did easily. Once she sat down, Master Clarke turned to the rest of us.

"You may or may not be aware of this, but right now, your magic veins are very brittle and delicate. Should you attempt to channel more magical power than they can handle at one time, or channel magical power continuously for longer than they can handle, they will crack, splinter or shatter. The first only requires no usage of magical power for a week in order to fix, but if you splinter them, you are required to wait for at least two months for them to heal before you can cast spells again. And if you shatter them…well, you will receive a great deal of damage. Additionally, you will have to wait for a year for your magic veins to regrow themselves to their previous state."

"Wouldn't they have to regrow from scratch?" Missy asked.

"An insightful question, Miss Biron." Master Clarke nodded approvingly. "Fortunately for all mages, that is not the case. Your magic will remember the latest stage that your magic veins reached and regrow them to that point, perhaps a little more, as magic is like a muscle; the more you flex it, the more you can use."

"Does that apply to how to strengthen your magic veins as well?" Chris asked.

"To a point." Master Clarke stated. "As you cast spells, magical power flows through your veins. Generally speaking though, you send too much for any one spell through at a time. The excess magical power that makes it through the veins and is not used for the spell is scattered harmlessly into the surroundings, but the excess magical power that does not make it out of the veins is absorbed by them and used to reinforce the veins. Too much magical power being absorbed at once or constantly having a lot of magical power absorbed over a long period of time is what causes cracking, splintering and shattering. Too much of a good thing is bad for you, especially if it is magic."

Made sense.

"Now then…have any of you decided on what path you shall walk as a Mage?" Master Clarke asked. I put my hand up, but I was only one of two, the other being Teresa Richter.

"Miss Richter, I presume you intend to be a Spell Researcher?" the Master asked politely.

"Yes, professor." Dragon said softly.

"Very well. Miss Hebert?" he turned to me.

"I plan on being a Summoner." I said firmly.

"A Summoner? Well, well, well." Master Clarke smiled. "Not enough people become Summoners and not many know of the advantages of such a profession. A Summoner, as the name suggests, summons monsters to fight on their behalf. They do so by forming contracts with beings belonging to their Spheres and calling them forth as and when required. In addition to the basic spells of **[Contract Ceremony]** , **[Summon Monster]** and **[Control Monster]** , Summoners can learn spells to enhance their summons' physical and magical abilities, as well as spells to cast magic through them or share their senses. With your wide variety of Spheres, I would think that Summoner is the perfect class for you, Miss Hebert. Come up to the front. I'll demonstrate the **[Contract Ceremony]** spell for you, and then you can give it a try."

Huh. Cool. I stood up and headed up to the front. Master Clarke got everyone to stand up and move to the side of the classroom and cleared the desks and chairs to one side with a sweep of his hand. Then he knelt on the ground and pressed one hand to the ground, creating a large circle, with a pentagram in the center. A magic circle, to use the common vernacular.

"This is the Summoning Formation that all Summoners use to contract their summons." Master Clarke informed the class. "The strength of the Formation is proportional to the strength of the one who created it. Until you have reached the final year here at the Academy, no one is permitted to summon on their own; a Master must create the Summoning Formation for you, as its purpose is to paralyze the monster within it. Which monster is summoned depends entirely on luck, so if you summon a monster that is too powerful for you, it can run amok. Now, watch and learn."

Standing, Master Clarke spread his arms out and started to chant. " _ **Darkness and Wind, come gather! I seek a beast that devours the air! I seek a monster that has skin of steel and strength of arms! Come forth, Air Eater!**_ "

In a flash of darkness and green light, a monster stood, or floated rather, in the middle of the Summoning Formation. In appearance it was green and insect-like, with a long tail in place of legs, as well as six arms. At the end of the tail was a wicked-looking taloned claw. A pair of large insect-like wings sprouted from its back. Its head was large and it had a beak seamlessly attached to its front.

"Ah, so I got a good one." Master Clarke smiled. "Class, this is a rare hybrid-type monster, possessing both the elements of Wind and Darkness. As you may have heard me say, it is called the Air Eater, a Sixth Circle monster. Its name is derived from one of its special abilities."

"Its what?" Dennis asked in confusion.

"All monsters, no matter how weak they are, possess one or more special abilities." The professor explained. "This is one reason why Summoners are so respected; they have the ability to call upon monsters with various powers that augment themselves and their allies in combat. Air Eaters have four special abilities that we are aware of; **[Air Eating]** , **[Tail Thrash]** , **[Triple Impact]** and **[Rending Claw]**. Aside from the first, they are all physical abilities that deal damage with a limb or limbs. **[Air Eating]** is the skill that gives it its name. It completely nullifies any and all Wind Sphere spells directed at it or its master, adding the magic from the wind to its reserves of magical power."

With a bow and a muttered dismissal, the Air Eater vanished. Then it was my turn.

"Now, Miss Hebert." Master Clarke said to me seriously. "Simply will your magical power to enter the Summoning Formation and let your mind wander. Words will come to you as a chant. Simply allow them to be spoken and the Summoning Formation will take care of the rest."

Easy for you to say.

Letting out a deep breath, I copied Master Clarke's pose and let my magical power out. It kinda tingled as it flowed out of my chest and down my arms. Once I felt it touch the formation, I did as Master Clarke said and let my mind wander. Abruptly, words stated to spill from my mouth.

" _ **Darkness, come gather! I seek the silent wings in the night! I seek the eye of darkness and the familiar in the Dark! Come forth, Meda Bat!**_ "

A burst of darkness appeared in the center of the Summoning Formation. When it fled, it left behind a monster about the same size as a parakeet. It was a circular monster, purple and dark blue in colour. It had no mouth or ears, but it did have one very large eye in the center of its orb-shaped body. Two modest horns were on either side of its eye and a pair of wings emerged from its back. At the bottom were a pair of taloned feet and legs, as well as a long, sinuous tail.

"I'll be…" Master Clarke muttered in fascination.

"Weak." Sophia sneered.

"Miss Hess, kindly do not speak of what you are very much ignorant about." The professor snapped. "Kindly write 'I must not display my ignorance' a thousand times and hand it in to your teacher tomorrow."

Sophia grumbled, but nodded.

"Very well. This, class, is also a rare monster. It is a Darkness Sphere monster of the Second Circle known as a Meda Bat. It is also one of the most sought after Darkness Summons for beginner Summoners." Master Clarke lectured. "Most First and Second Circle Monsters have one, perhaps two, special abilities. The Meda Bat possesses _three_ ; **[Darkflight]** , **[Darkvision]** and **[Dark Blast]**. **[Darkflight]** allows the Meda Bat to be almost completely undetectable when flying in darkness, meaning at night. **[Darkvision]** allows its Summoner to link their mind to it and see through its eye, which is able to see as clearly during the night as we can during the day. Finally, **[Dark Blast]** is when it fires explosive blasts of darkness at its target. Many who see this creature frequently underestimate it due to its size, but the **[Dark Blast]** is Third Circle in strength. Underestimate it at your own peril."

This last was said while pointedly looking at Sophia.

"Miss Hebert, would you like to make this Meda Bat your first Summon?" he asked me, much to my surprise.

"Is it a good idea to?" I asked.

"An excellent attitude to take; never make a decision in ignorance." Master Clarke said approvingly. "As I have said, this particular monster is very rare. For someone who seeks versatility in their repertoire of Summons, it is an excellent addition, as it can perform the duties of a scout, an assassin, an ambusher and even a bodyguard. I know a lot of summoners who did not pull a Meda Bat one time out of over a hundred summonings. I would advise you not to let this chance go."

"OK then. What do I have to do?" I asked. I was all about versatility.

He handed me a crystal. It was about the length of my index finger and rectangular.

"This is a Contract Crystal." He informed me. "It allows you to make a contract with a monster. You have to throw it into the Formation, where it will shatter, and then channel as much magic as you can into the Formation itself. As it is only a Second Sphere monster, it should not take too long to forge a contract."

Nodding, I turned back to the Meda Bat and threw the crystal into the Summoning Formation. It shattered upon entering, and started to revolve around the Meda Bat. I started channeling magic into the Summoning Formation, making the shards of the crystal spin faster. Once again, words started to spill out from my mouth.

" _ **With my words, I bind you. With my magic, I bind you. And with my will, I bind you! Submit yourself to the contract and serve me, Meda Bat!**_ "

In a flash of light, the Meda Bat disappeared and in its place was a crystalline octahedron. It was purple and, floating in the center, was the image of my newly contracted monster.

Clicking his fingers, Master Clarke dismissed the Summoning Formation. "Go an pick up your Summon Crystal, Miss Hebert. None other than you are able to touch it without consequences."

"Why's that?" Lily asked as I went forward and scooped up the crystal.

"Monsters, even the relatively weak ones like a Meda Bat, are _very_ prideful." Master Clarke explained. "Being subjugated once is bad enough, but to allow just _anyone_ to touch their prisons and use them? No, there is only one person they will permit to touch their crystals and that is their master."

"Professor, is this normal?" I asked, holding up my crystal. It had turned opaque, now resembling an octahedron lump of obsidian.

"Yes." He answered. "A crystal will always turn blank for a day after a contract is made. It will also turn blank if you recall a monster or the monster is defeated. The time for those two are a lot more varied depending on how much magical power you have left, how powerful the monster is and how badly hurt it is when it's recalled. A monster that has been defeated can take up to a day to recover, while a recalled monster may take a few hours, but it can even be as short as ten minutes."

"So monsters that've been captured by a Summoner are immortal?" Dean asked, interestedly.

"Far from it." Master Clarke shook his head. "A sufficiently high amount of damage is unrecoverable, even for the Contract Crystal to heal. Also, a monster can push its limits too much by overusing its magical power, essentially killing itself. One of the first spells a competent Summoner learns is how to monitor the status of their summons to ensure that either instance doesn't happen. It's also why most Summoners also have a large assortment of monsters at hand, so they can rotate them out so as to avoid overtaxing them."

With that, class ended. Master Clarke gave me a bandolier that had pockets for me to carry my crystals in, which was useful. I made a habit of summoning at least two more monsters a month in order to build up my new 'swarm' to levels that wouldn't put too much pressure on any individual member.

About three months later, I was very, very grateful that Master Clarke had helped me with my Summoning.

 **And that's it…until the next chapter! ^_^**


	106. Soul Transmigration Chapter 5

**Soul Transmigration Chapter 5 (Original chapter Chapter 102)**

 _Three Months Later_

 _Docks, Dog Star Island_

"Do we have to?" Emma whined as she eyed the ship we were about to board with a mixture of scant favour and slight fear.

"Yes, Ems, we do." I said patiently.

"What's her problem?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow. Today, on the day that our entire class was set to go to the Canis Isles, she was hanging with me, Emma and Amelia instead of Sophia. This was because we were required to group up with our roommates for the duration of the trip. Sophia was with three other commoner girls, none of which I recognised from my last life, but they could have been part of the clique that made my life hell for a year and a half, for all I know.

"She's got a bad case of seasickness whenever she's on a ship at sea." I informed her. "And I don't know the spell to banish seasickness yet. Professor Cole won't teach me it. She says I don't know enough to use it"

To be exact, she had told me to stop being a little brown-noser. I learned a bit later on from Master Clarke that she had vied for my father's attentions and failed, so she was taking her dislike of my mother out on me. Lovely.

"Have you tried asking one of the professors to cast it on her?" Lily suggested. "There's Professor Clarke right now. Why not ask him?"

Minutes later, and a moderately powerful anti-seasickness spell cast on Emma, we were trooping aboard the Mage Passanger Ship _Breath of the North Wind_ and waiting on the afterdeck for Professor Clarke to tell us about the itinerary for the next two weeks.

I knew the basics of it, of course; the Canis Isles were a pair of islands three days south-west of Dog Star Island that were the exclusive property of the Kingdom of Sirius' Guild of Mages. They were a positively huge treasure trove of magical ingredients, monsters and even a few of the Fae folk, according to rumor, anyway. Each Class visited them at differing times; ours was last, and for good reason.

The reason, as I understood it, was that up until now, we had no reason to visit the isles because we had very little ability to cast spells. Four months into our education was the very earliest that we needed to come to the twin islands. The reason we had to come here? To get materials for our casting devices.

"Attention!" Master Clarke called out as the last of the class climbed onto the afterdeck. "Malcom Merton, get _over_ here! Everyone here now? Good. Ahem. As you all know, we are going to the Canis Isles to gather materials for your fist casting instruments."

"Why do we need casting implements, professor?" Chris asked.

"Because, my very naïve students, you require a channel in order to cast more powerful spells." Master Clarke explained. "For Unranked and Circle 1 and 2 spells, a channel isn't necessary, but with Circle 3 and up, you need a channel. Can anyone tell me why? Miss Lavere?"

Amelia looked unperturbed as she answered, "Having a casting implement, such as a wand, staff, ring or bracer helps to reduce the pressure on the veins that carry our magical power from our Cores to our hands, and Circle 3 spells are considerably more burdensome in that regard."

"Exactly." The old professor nodded in satisfaction. "As you grow older and your magical veins grow sturdier, you will find that you can cast higher-ranked spells without the aid of a casting implement. At my age, I can cast Circle 9 spells completely unaided."

I was impressed here. Circle 9 spells were incredibly powerful. Master Clarke had told me that my Mom had access to a Circle 9 spell called **[Ocean's Tempest]** that she had used to sink a fleet of pirate ships that had tried to attack her ship about five years ago. If Master Clarke could cast spells of that magnitude without a casting tool, he was far more powerful than I had guessed.

"You will be coming here every year to gather materials for a new casting implement." Master Clarke continued. "This is because, as you become stronger, you may overload your implements."

That got a series of confused whispers from most of us. Even I only had a vague idea about what he was talking about.

"Ah. I haven't explained how the casting implements word, have I?" the old man realised. "Basically, the tools, whether they be wands, staves, rings, pendants or what have you, absorb excess amounts of magical power when you cast spells, drawing more out of your body rather than having it overload your veins and cause them to shatter. As you become stronger, however, the amount of magical power that you output will overwhelm a casting device built with a less-powerful Mage in mind. If a powerful mage uses an inferior wand too much, it can have deadly consequences…such as exploding in the middle of a spell. Trust me when I say that it can have very negative consequences for your ability to cast magic."

I shuddered slightly at the implications. Something exploding as I channelled magic through it? The backlash would fire itself up my veins, shattering them to pieces, and maybe even hitting my Cores. I did not want to think about that happening to me. Nope. Not happening.

After that, the voyage got underway. I found a part of the deck that wasn't crawling with sailors and sat down with a book. It was one of a series on monsters; names, elemental alignments, verified special abilities and the like. As a Summoner, being able to recognise a monster that I had summoned, or one that an enemy Summoner had summoned, was critical.

Absently, I ran one hand across my crystal holder, now carrying six crystals, each with a monster that I had summoned and bound to me. I would have more, but the stupid restriction against allowing students to summon without a Master present meant I could only nail down Master Clarke once a month for about an hour. The fact that what I got was so goddamned random complicated things and justified the damned injunction; even my best **[Contract Magic]** was only good for Circle 5 monsters at absolute best, and I kept getting Circle 6 and above ones!

The monsters that I got to keep could only be as strong as my **[Contract Magic]** was, something which limited me to the single Circle 5 monster that I had summoned. The rest were Circles 1 through 4, with two being Circle 3. Master Clarke had promised to waive the restriction once my **[Contract Magic]** was good to contain up to Circle 10 monsters. Summoning monsters above the tenth Circle required special catalysts, so I would be safe at that point.

"Why do you hang out with her?" A familiar voice asked me. Looking up, I withheld a sigh as Victoria Dallon scowling down at me.

"By 'her', I assume you mean Amelia." I responded tersely. "She's my roommate; I kinda have to."

"You do way more than the bare minimum interaction with the spawn of pirates." The other girl accused me bitingly. I eyed her body somewhat enviously. Even at twelve, puberty was hitting her like a truck. Lucky bitch…

"So simply because of who her father is, something she has no control over, she's guilty by association?" I raised my eyebrows at the girl. "Do tell what crimes she's committed, Heiress Dallon? Being smarter than you, perhaps? Outperforming you in class? Or not just coasting along like you have?"

The flush of anger in Victoria's cheeks was interesting. Looks like I hit the nail on the head. Amelia was getting consistently higher grades than Victoria, mostly because the Dallon Scion did the bare minimum and little else.

"Th-that has nothing to do with it!" Victoria spluttered.

"Look, I don't believe in accusing people of crimes without evidence, nor do I believe in people being tainted by association simply because they are related to someone who did something wrong." I said firmly. "Until and unless she does something worthy of being called a crime, leave her alone."

"You and what army will stop me?" the blond narrowed her eyes before they widened again in shock as I withdrew one of my crystals from my bandolier.

"Me and my army of monsters, that's who." I said coldly. "Get over your mother's hatred of marquis, Victoria Dallon. Hatred makes people very stupid, and you are far from being stupid. Treat her as someone you've never met before and learn what she's like as a person, not as a humanoid shape labelled 'Daughter of the Pirate Marquis'. Judge her by her words and actions, not by those of someone else. Now kindly leave me alone; I have a book to read."

Turning my attention back to my book once I settled the crystal back into its pocket, I huffed and ignored Victoria completely. I had endured one set of Queen Bitches in my last life; no way in _hell_ was I putting up with another set of them in this life.

 _Two Days Later_

"I hate everything."

Emma looked exceptionally queasy today. The spell had run out this morning and the only reason she wasn't throwing anything up was thanks to taking deep breaths and eating only bland foods.

"Chin up; you only have to endure this until Master Clarke has a free moment." I said encouragingly.

"Easy for you to say, Tay…" Emma groaned. She was lying on the deck and hoping that the fresh air would do her good.

"Are your parents bad with sea travel at all?" Lily asked in morbid fascination. She'd obviously never seen someone so obviously seasick before.

"No…Father travels all the time and he's as fit as a fiddle." Emma replied. "Mother doesn't travel nearly as much, but she still does it enough that if she got seasick, she'd have put a stop to it sharpish."

"It's odd." Amelia declared flatly. "Someone with talent in the Sphere of Water shouldn't have an adverse reaction to floating atop of water."

"Well excuse me for being odd." Emma grumbled. Before anyone could say anything else, a cry from the lookout made us leap to our feet in alarm.

"BLACK SAILS OFF TO PORT!"

Rushing to the port side, we gazed over the side to try and make it out. Sadly, we couldn't spot anything with our naked eyes, but I had learned several spells that were useful here.

" _ **Water, come gather! Dance, reflect, refract and magnify!**_ **[Water Spyglass]!** " I chanted. Several lenses and prisms of water appeared in front of me and I mentally adjusted them until the image of a ship with black sails appeared in the viewing lens.

"That's an old _Champion_ -class frigate from the Libra Theocracy." Master Clarke said as he came up behind us. "The last of them were sold or broken down before the last war, but they were the mainstay of the Libra Navy in the war before that. At least a hundred and fifty crew aboard her if they are running light."

That wasn't good; the _Breath of the North Wind_ was a passenger ship, with a crew of over a hundred, but most of those were ordinary sailors, cooks and other non-combatants. There were only twenty or so soldiers aboard, armed with pikes and light armor. Not counting Master Clarke and the other two teachers from the Academy who had come along with us, as well as the rest of our class.

"Miss Hebert, kindly direct your spell a touch to sternwards." Master Clarke urged me, and I complied. Unfortunately, that had me spotting two smaller ships.

" _Sword_ -class corvettes." The Master Mage grimaced. "About a hundred men aboard each. Again, retired ships from the Libra Theocracy. They have to have seen our pennant by this point, so they know we're of the Mage Academy. The fact they haven't broken off means that either they're stupid enough to think that they can handle three Master Mages or that they've come prepared, and I am disinclined to infer stupidity without sufficient proof. Can you magnify the images of the flag they fly?"

Doing so, I brought into focus the image of a bird with spread wings atop a man's skull. The escutcheon was white, while the flag itself was black.

"I don't recognise that flag." Amelia frowned. "At the very least, it's not the flag of any Black Sail group in the Kingdom as of the start of term."

"Oh, I doubt very much that it's a real Black Flag group." Master Clarke chuckled humorlessly. "In all likelihood, what we are seeing is a strike force of the Libra Theocracy's Navy. A covert operation to capture you all to use as bargaining chips to force the Kingdom to capitulate on concede land to their masters."

"How can you tell that?" Lily asked in surprise and not a little fear.

"A small covert naval task group in the Libra Theocracy is one frigate and two corvettes." The old mage replied easily. "Plus, now I know what to look for, I can sense the power of four Master Mages on those ships; one on each corvette and two on the frigate. The Marquisate Black Sail group is the only band of Black Sails who possesses a Master Mage in their ranks, so four in one group is ridiculous to consider as anything but legitimate military."

"Orders, Master Clarke?" I asked steadily, already assessing ways to use my Summons.

"In all likelihood, we won't be able to outrun them; the _Breath_ is big and slow, while they can chase us down easily." The Mage stated. "Our survival depends on exactly how skilled their Mages are and if we can overpower them quickly enough to avoid being boarded by those crews. The instant it becomes a boarding action, we lose. I must go and consult with my colleagues. Excuse me children."

As Master Clarke left, I absently noted that the corvettes were called the _Vandal_ and the _Vaunting_ , while the frigate was called the _Eclipse_. I was not particularly enthusiastic to basically slug things out with the enemy Master Mages when they outnumbered our own Master Mages, even if it was just by one.

"Tay…" Emma said hesitantly.

"It'll be fine, Ems." I reassured her as I chose one of my crystals in particular before injecting magical power into it and letting it tumble off my hand, over the side of the ship and fall into the waves. When it hit the water's surface, the crystal vanished and my monster appeared, vanishing beneath the waves.

Mentally ordering it to activate both of its special abilities as it followed the ship, I absently rolled my shoulders as I stared at the ships through my **[Water Spyglass]** spell, even as the ship came alive with activity and more sail was let out in an effort to escape the pursuing 'Black Sails'.

"This is _really_ ballsy of the Libra Theocracy." Amelia said softly. "Coming after our class, the one that has the most Nobles out of the current four years? The only way it would be ballsier would be if the Crown Prince was in our class."

"Isn't he in the year above us?" I mused. "Why not go after him rather than us?"

"The Crown Prince is escorted everywhere off the island by four frigates of the Royal Guard." Amelia informed me. "Each has two Master Mages aboard, plus enough crew to swamp anyone trying to capture him. No, they're going for us because we're an easier target by far."

"And you know this how?" Emma asked, her seasickness driven from her by worry.

"He told me." Amelia rolled her eyes. "He came and pulled a 'how-dare-you-come-here, traitor' routine a couple of weeks back. He's apparently under the impression I'm here to kill him. Idiot."

The Crown Prince…who is he again…? Oh…NOW I remember…Aegis… _Carlos_ …is the Crown Prince. Looks like he's a bit of a jerk this time around.

"So what was the monster you summoned there?" Lily asked me in a low voice.

"Wait and see." I smirked. "All I'll say is that I'm not one to bow my head to people trying to capture me."

"Heh." Amelia chuckled. "Same here."

It took about half an hour for the small flotilla to catch up to the Breath of the North Wind, during which time my plan proceeded apace without a problem. My Dad had given me (or rather, the Taylor of this world) a talk about the military ships used in this world. They were enchanted from keel to stern to provide some degree of protection from various types of magic, mostly the offensive kind. They were also enchanted to protect the ship from biofouling, negating the need to sheath the hulls in copper.

Sadly for whoever is in those ships, they were not designed to protect the ships from what I was planning on doing. So, as the frigate moved to the port side, the corvettes flanked us from both the stern and starboard. Fine by me. I mentally commanded my monster to follow my instructions to the letter.

"Ahoy the ship!" a man yelled over from the frigate, his voice magically enhanced. "Heave to and prepare to be boarded!"

"And be stewing in a cell in Liberia's jails within the month? I think not." Master Clarke growled back, his voice enhanced as well. "I recognise that idiot near the mizzenmast; Jack the Blade Sorcerer. Still eking out a living as a Mage for Hire, I see."

"Come now, that's just _mean_." a horribly familiar voice responded. Not him…not HIM!

Peeking over the side of the ship, I blanched as I spotted the man Master Clarke was talking about. An utterly ordinary guy, with a brown goatee and an easy, somewhat charming smile. A figure I could never forget…Jack Slash. Former leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine and the one who had sent Zion batshit insane.

That did it; these ships were going down hard. Like _hell_ I was going to let these people get their hands on me with that lunatic on their side!

' _NOW!_ ' I ordered, and my monster obeyed my orders.

Seconds later, the corvettes and the frigate groaned as wood buckled and broke, revealing an army of blue blobs growing out from in between the planks that the ship was made of.

"Man the pumps!"

"They're jammed! What the hell _are_ these things?!"

"The hull's got more holes in it than cheese!"

As the shouts of panicked 'pirates' resounded through the air, Master Clarke turned wide eyes on me, as did most of my classmates.

"Miss Herbert? Is this your doing?" Master Clarke asked in disbelief.

"They expected the Masters to do something, but a First Year student?" I said with a small smirk. "Nope."

As we spoke, the frigate listed and then started to sink, swiftly followed by the corvettes. I had made certain to have the monsters appear right along either side of the keels of the ships, meaning that the chance of managing to repair the ships, barring with a Mage who knew either the Sphere of Nature or the Sphere of Wood, was pretty slim.

"Well, isn't _this_ a pickle?" Jack's voice floated over from the sinking frigate. "I really thought we had a chance here. One of your colleagues is a Summoner, I take it? Tch, what luck. Mimi, get us out of here."

A woman I recognised as fucking Burnscar staggered over to him and they both vanished in an explosion of flames. Fire-based teleportation?! Was that even _possible_ in this world!?

As the three ships started to sink properly and the crews abandoned ship, I ordered my monster to capture them, giving my classmates and Professor a good look at what monster I had used.

"Are…are those seriously _Amoeba_?" Victoria Dallon asked in disbelief. "One of the weakest of all monsters?"

"Yup. A Circle 1, water element monster, the Amoeba." I said with a shrug. "It only possesses two abilities, **[Propagation]** and **[Size Shift]** , not to mention the natural ability to 'eat' anything it absorbs. It can only be used in water and is easily defeated by almost any human or monster in a direct confrontation."

"So how the heck did you do _that_?!" Emma demanded, looking awed.

"Simple." I answered with a smirk. "I Summoned my Amoeba about half an hour ago and had it use both of its skills to start making more of itself and to shrink down to a size that not even a keen-eyed lookout could spot while it followed our ship. Then, when the 'pirates' drew close enough, I had them stuff themselves in between the cracks of the boards of the hull, especially along the keel. Then I had them expand rapidly back to full size in an instant. With so many of them appearing at once, they broke the hulls into shards when they appeared. By the way, Master Clarke, what should I do with the prisoners?"

The man started. "Er, have them brought aboard, Miss Hebert. We can shove them into a storage hold and seal it with magic until we get to the Canis Isles Naval base."

"All three-hundred or so of them?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"The power of the Lesser Sphere of Space is a wonderful thing." Master Clarke replied with a smile. "Have no fear on that front. Miss Hebert, how much strain are you under?"

"Some." I admitted. "But I don't have any of the symptoms of a Shattering or Fracturing of my veins, so I should be alright."

All Summons drew magical power from their Summoner once summoned, in order to power their special abilities. Once I had thrown the crystal into the water after unlocking it with a drop of my magic, I had been steadily sending power to my Amoeba for the last half an hour, allowing to use and maintain both **[Propagation]** and **[Size Shift]**. There were over _three-hundred_ of the things running around in the ocean water right now, all ensnaring drowning/swimming sailors with their pseudopods and carrying them to the newly-lowered platform and staircase, where some of the soldiers hauled them aboard, checked them for weaponry and then bound their hands in rope before having a sailor lead them up to the deck and then down into the hold, where another Master Mage had expanded a spare hold to fit the three hundred captured sailors.

Well, there were actually two-hundred and fifty-three, as some sailors had drowned and some had been eaten by a sea monster of some description, while the Master Mages on the corvettes had somehow teleported or flown away with some of the crew from the ships. Slippery buggers.

"That was an exceptional use of using tactics and strategy to compensate for a lack of power on your part." Master Clarke stated. "But you risked the destruction of your Summon in doing so."

"Nope." I shook my head firmly. "See, I figured out that in addition to its two active abilities, Amoeba has a passive ability as well. I was reading a book on monsters after I chose Amoeba and discovered that no matter how many of the clones created by **[Propagation]** are destroyed, _every single one_ is technically the _same Amoeba_. So long as one survives, it can never die and it is only wounded if that last one is attacked. I call this ability **[All is One]**. The risk to my Summon was less than nil."

"And once you deactivate **[Propagation]** , all of the clones will vanish." Master Clarke nodded. "Well, it seems like you're starting your military career early, Miss Hebert. Although next time, kindly tell me before you do something like this; it would be nice not to have to worry about my students as I have been."

"Sorry professor." I said, chastised suitably.

After the professor walked away, muttering about wunderkind students or something, I turned to see my friends and classmates staring at me.

"Er…well, that was fun." I said modestly.

"You are the most bizarre person I have ever met." Amelia told me again.

"You've told me that every day for the last three months or so." I informed her dryly.

As argued with the Pirate Scion, I dearly hoped that this was the last overly exciting episode on this trip.

Sadly, I was very much mistaken.

 **So…that happened. Classic Taylor; using a seemingly weak power/monster to do things most people wouldn't expect. Very easy to write this little fic.**


	107. Soul Transmigration Chapter 6

**Soul Transmigration Chapter 6 (original chapter Chapter 102)**

"How in the name of all the gods did you know how to _do_ that?!" Emma demanded when we retired to our cabin, Lily and Amelia following us.

"Dad told me about the kind of enchantments that ships have." I shrugged. "They either protect against offensive spells or against physical impacts, a lot of the time both, not to mention protection from biofouling. What they don't protect against is little monsters infiltrating between the cracks and then expanding back to their normal size and smashing the hull of the ships into splinters."

"You are a very scary girl. Has anyone ever told you that?" Amelia remarked casually, seemingly not intimidated in the slightest in spite of her own words.

"I _have_ heard that, yes." I answered dryly.

"I never thought that a single Summoner could single-handedly take down three ships at the same time." Lily said in awe. "Especially one who's not had even half a year's training in her magical education!"

Smirking, I tapped the side of my head knowingly. "The little grey cells overcome most obstacles that strength alone cannot."

OK, so my Mom (in my last life) had liked Agatha Christie's _Poirot_. Sue me.

"People are going to be treating you like a genius now." Amelia mentioned. "I doubt that anyone could have anticipated that use for, as Victoria Dallon put it, one of the weakest of the monsters to exist."

"I saw a potential weakness given what I knew of the enchantments of ships and just so happened to have the perfect monster to execute the plan I made to exploit that weakness." I protested. "If I hadn't had my Amoeba to use, I wouldn't have tried it."

"You've got six monsters, right? We know you have Amoeba and Meda Bat, so what're the other four?" Emma asked inquisitively. "And could you have done something with those?"

I sighed. "My two Circle Three monsters are a Nature Sphere monster called Lesser Trent and a Fire Sphere monster called Lesser Fire Doom. My Circle 4 monster is a Wind Sphere monster called Breath Dragon, though it isn't _actually_ a dragon, so why it's _called_ a dragon in the first place is beyond me. My Circle 5 monster…eh, let's call it my trump card and leave it at that."

Despite Emma pleading with me, I refused to tell her what my Circle 5 monster was. As the one that was at the current peak of my ability to use **[Contract Magic]** on, it was considered my trump card and I had the legal right to refuse to disclose its identity to anyone, even the King himself. Unless I had to use it, in which case I wasn't protected by the law anymore.

It took another day, but we safely arrived at the Canis Isles. There were two of them, Canis Minor, the smaller island, and Canis Major, the larger one. The _Breath of the North Wind_ docked at Canis Minor, as it was the designated island for First and Second Years.

Each island had a dock for ships to moor to, a barracks for the detachment of soldiers assigned to guard the precious materials and monsters that existed on these islands. There was also a representative of the mage's Council on each island, usually researchers who were formerly powerful battle wizards. They got quiet, isolation and plenty of materials for their research (within limits) and they protected the island from invaders. Win-Win.

"Gather around!" Master Clarke called as he herded the class off the ship and onto the dock. "Gather around! Valerie Guin, pay attention! Everyone listening _now_? Good."

Looking around, the old magic user continued. "Ahem. The little unexpected kerfuffle that we ran into en-route aside, this trip has gone according to plan. After discussion with my fellow masters, we have decided to continue on as if this were a normal trip. You all have three days to, in your preselected groups, select the type of casting mediums you wish to make and then gather the materials for it. If you wish to ask one of the Masters about what materials would suit you and the casting instrument of your choice best, then please do so. We are a resource to be drawn upon for this subject. I do ask that you leave Master Weber alone, as he is neck-deep in research and will not take idle questions in good humour."

Some of us tittered. The corpulent Island master had waddled out as we disembarked and shouted at us to not disturb him before waddling back inside his home before slamming the door shut. None of us would have the gumption to dare try talking with him.

"As you have all learned in your classes, the various casting implements have their own advantages and disadvantages." Master Clarke lectured. "For those of you who have yet to make a decision about which specialty you are going to enter, I would recommend a basic wand. It is the best general implement that you can use and offers no disadvantage other than the fact you will be unable to cast spells above a certain Circle with one, even with the best of materials."

Sensible. With most of the class undecided about their Mage Vocation, he's not-so-subtly guided them towards an instrument that's both easy to make and wouldn't hinder most of my classmates in experimenting with spells to find out what they were suited for.

"So what are you going to try for?" I asked Amelia as the lecture ended and most of the class scattered into the area around the docks to talk in their groups.

"I'm going to be a Battle healer, so rings." The Daughter of the Pirate Marquis answered.

That made me raise an eyebrow in surprise. A Battle Healer was a hybrid between a Healer and a Battlemage, mixing modestly powerful healing spells with the versatile number of battle spells that a Battlemage possessed. It was one of the rarer Mage Vocations due to how difficult it was to find someone who possessed the skills, desire, Spheres and discipline necessary to become one.

"Good for you." Lily said with a nod. "Me, I'm gonna be a Battlechanter, so a staff for me."

My second eyebrow shot up to join its twin. A Battlechanter was a combat-oriented Enchanter. Like the Battle Healer Vocation, the requirements needed to balance the aspects of an Enchanter and a Battlemage meant that there were only a handful in the whole world.

"I'm…just going to be a Healer." Emma said shyly. "So…um, what are the suited tools for that again?"

"Rings, pendants, wands, staves and bracers." I said automatically. "I think a pendant sounds like it'd be best for you, though I'd ask Master Clarke, as he'll have a better idea than me."

"What about you?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Summoners need to keep their hands free a lot more than other Vocations, so I'm swaying between rings and bracers." I admitted. "More to bracers, really."

"A sensible choice, Miss Hebert." Master Clarke said from behind me, making me almost levitate in shock. He had snuck up on me completely silently!

"Gah!" I yelped.

"And your idea for Miss Barnes is also right on the money." He continued, ignoring me giving him the stink eye. "Regular Healers have little need to use combat magic, so having a pendant isn't a disadvantage whatsoever."

"Thank you professor." Emma said nervously. "And…what materials should we use?"

The old Mage thought for a minute. "Miss Lavere should have one ring made of Iron Jade and one ring made of Sky Iron. For Miss Lily here, I would recommend wood from the Crystal Trunk Tree. For Miss Barnes, I recommend a lump of Golden Lion Jade. And finally, for Miss Hebert, I recommend the skin of the monster known as the Devil Mamba, along with metal known as Clear Sky Steel and at least ten crystals from the Elemental Crystal Grove. That should last you all until your second trip here in your second year."

"Thank you, professor." Amelia inclined her head. "How are we to harvest the materials? I personally don't know of any spells to do so."

"By hand." Master Clarke said bluntly as he withdrew a set of tools from his robes and handed them out. There were picks, clippers, and saws all sized for children our age.

"The materials you are gathering are sensitive to magical power, which is why you must not use magical means to gather them." He informed us. "Doing so could taint them and make them less effective as casting implements. The only exception is the Devil Mamba."

He then beckoned a soldier over, who expressionlessly handed out rucksacks that we were to use to carry our respective materials.

"Once we return to the academy, skilled smiths and other craftsmen will create your casting tools to your specifications." Master Clarke concluded. "They'll be plain and functional to avoid any kind of competition between you all. Good luck, children."

With that, he moved off to help another group.

"How're we supposed to identify them?" Lily asked after a moment. "I dunno about you all, but I have _no clue_ what Crystal Trunk Trees looks like."

"Over there." Emma pointed at a large board, about the size of a roadside billboard with a soldier standing next to it. It had wooden boards with pictures of every tree, animal, metal and plant on the island. We quickly went over to grab boards that showed our own materials.

" _That's_ a Devil Mamba? Eesh, looks dangerous." Lily commented as she peered at the picture. It resembled a cobra with a single horn in the center of its head. I read the stats that were provided with it.

 **Species: Devil Mamba**

 **Spheres: Nature, Darkness**

 **Sub-Sphere: Serpent**

 **Rank: Circle 3**

 **Abilities: [Intimidation Gaze], [Constrict], [Poison Bite]**

"Best way to deal with it is to use a Summon." I mused. "We'll track down this guy last; gathering the materials that won't fight back first is the best idea."

"Agreed." Emma said fervently.

 _Two Days Later_

'Roughing it' has a different meaning to mages. On the first day, Master Clarke and his companions had thrown up a temporary dorm for us, which was almost as comfortable as our dorm back at the Academy. As I padded down to the cafeteria, I thought about my time on this island.

Over the last two days, Amelia, Lily, Emma and I had gotten ahold of most of our materials. Everyone's materials were amazing to look at; Amelia's Iron Jade was stone that looked like metal, but felt more like plastic, whereas Sky Iron looked like silver, but was light as paper and as strong as titanium. Lily's Crystal Trunk Tree branch was a literal length of crystalline wood, ruby with a smattering of blue sapphires inside it. Emma's Golden Lion Jade was a gorgeous shade of gold that looked as if it was freshly polished.

As for my materials, Clear Sky Steel was metal ore the same shade as a clear blue sky, as the name suggested, while the crystal gems from the Elemental Crystal Grove were all about the size of marbles, and changed colours constantly. This only left the skin of the Devil Mamba to get.

"So how're we gonna find it?" Lily asked as we ate breakfast. "I haven't seen any snakes around while we've been walking all over this place."

"It's an opportunistic predator, and all of us together put of a strong feeling of magic." I informed her. "It'll never show itself willingly. My book said so."

"OK then, so what do we do?" Amelia asked calmly.

"Either we track it down to its lair or we bait a trap." I answered. "The first one is way too risky, as a lair can have upwards of twenty of the things at once. So we'll have to lure it in before killing it and dragging it back here."

"How?" Emma asked suspiciously.

"I'll be sitting in a clearing. It likes to strike from behind, so it'll come up behind me. I'll be counting on you all to blast it with spells to let me get out of striking range." I stated. "If necessary, I'll summon my Lesser Trent to protect me before blasting it as well. Try to avoid cutting spells unless you're aiming to take its head off."

"Tay, that's too risky!" Emma protested.

"I trust you three." I said with a shrug.

That had Emma and Lily blushing and Amelia eying me as if I was odd. Well, to her, I suppose I was somewhat odd. She had started the Academy thinking that she'd be isolated throughout it, but thanks to me, Emma and occasionally Lily, she wasn't. Some of the others were getting over their fear of her father and at least talking to her without flinching.

Wimps.

Once breakfast was over, my group trooped out to start Operation Bait and Wait…Ok, I just called it that to myself. Fortunately, my entire group had been learning spells at a good clip since they learned how to cast magic in the first place. Emma knew several defensive spells and a good handful of offensive ones too, but both Lily and Amelia knew much more than she did, although Emma did know some borderline Circle 3 healing spells that might come in handy if things went pear-shaped.

There were more than a few clearings on Canis Minor; even although the island was the smaller of the two, it was still about the same size as Lower Manhattan on Earth Bet, so there was plenty of room for a fairly thriving ecosystem. Animals, both mundane and monster, lived and died here, with most of the island away from the small enclave in the center point of the beach untamed wilderness. The only exception was the large tower standing atop the tallest mountain on the island. It was the research lab of Master Mage Weber, who could, somehow, transport himself between it and his house in the enclave.

Anyway, the clearing that we chose wasn't so small as to be too cramped to fight it, but it also wasn't big enough to take too long for my friends to come to my aid. There was also a comfy rock in the center that I perched on to read while I waited for the Devil Mamba to show up.

"You do know that you are far too relaxed for what you're doing?" Amelia said dryly via a Wind Sphere communication spell, **[Wind Whisperer]**.

"Shush, you." I said back casually as I read my book. "I'm busy being oblivious."

"Has she always been like this?!" I heard the Pirate Scion ask Emma in exasperation.

"Pretty much. It takes a lot to phase her." my traitorous friend replied.

"I can still hear you~." I sing-songed.

"Quiet you three. I can hear something!" Lily hissed.

Now that she brought it up, I could hear something too…a hissing sound. Oddly, it sounded like two snakes rather than one. I had looked up the Devil Mamba on the first day we were here and aside from when they slept and mated, Devil Mambas couldn't stand each other. They were solitary hunters.

"Taylor, run! It's something else!" Emma shouted. "It's a snake with two heads!"

I went for indolent and oblivious to flat out running in a handful of seconds, cursing the robes I wore as I pelted across the clearing. The loud crunch of jaws on stone behind me told me that I'd only just made it.

Peeking over my shoulder, I cursed. It wasn't _just_ a snake with two heads; the heads were on opposite sides of the body, one being where the head usually was, while the other was where the end of the tail usually was.

"A goddamn _Devil Taijitu Snake_?!" I shouted in disbelief. "Those are supposed to be on Canis Major only! What the hell's one of them doing on Canis Minor?!"

"You know what that _thing_ is?!" Amelia asked as she sent a spear of water to smash uselessly against the scaly hide of the monster.

"A Devil Taijitu Snake." I repeated as I skidded to a halt next to my friends. "A Circle 5 monster, supposedly an evolved or mutated version of a regular Devil Mamba. It has the special abilities of **[Steel Scales]** , **[Double Brain]** , **[Paralysis Vision]** , **[Iron Bite]** and **[Constricting Coils]**. Thanks to the first one, none of our spells can pierce its hide; aim for the eyes!"

"Running sounds like an idea." Lily said with a gulp. I could sympathize; a Devil Mamba was about five feet from nose to tail, while this bastard was triple that.

"Nope, it's as fast as a horse at a slow canter in a straight line." I shook my head.

"Stay still, dammit!" Emma cursed as she blasted it with a shower of water needles. "The eyes are too small to target. Does that book say how to deal with this thing?"

"Unless any of us know Circle 4 Ice Sphere wide-area spells, then no." I answered. "I have an idea that will probably work though. We fight a monster… _with_ a monster."

Saying so, I reached into my bandolier and withdrew my Circle 5 monster crystal. It glittered in the sunlight as I grasped it.

The Devil Taijitu hadn't been coming after us because it had been busy spitting rock fragments out of its rear mouth; the disadvantage of having jaws and fangs strong enough to bite through rock, I suppose. Now that it had finished getting rid of its unexpectedly heavy meal, it was eying us hungrily.

" _ **Beast sealed in crystal, hear my call!**_ " I chanted. With weak monsters, of Circle 2 or lower, a chant wasn't required to summon them. Monsters of Circle 3 and up _did_ need the chant for the **[Summon Monster]** spell. " _ **Emerge from thine confinement to serve your master! I summon thee!**_ "

With a sharp gesture, I hurled the now glowing crystal halfway between us and the snake monster. It exploded in green light that bulged and expanded until a massive form stood between us and the Devil Taijitu Snake. Huge, covered with thick armor-like purple chitin and with glowing yellow eyes mounted beneath a massive horn.

With a screeching roar, my Giant Hercules Beetle set itself ready to face my enemy.

"A…a Giant Hercules Beetle!" Emma gaped in shock. Unsurprising that she knew about it; these critters had been spotted every so often on the farmlands that Dad oversaw. They had five special abilities; **[Steel Carapace]** , **[Sonic Scissors]** , **[Horn Buster]** , **[Beetle Flight]** and **[Lesser Insect Dominance]**.

"That's…some trump card." Lily gulped.

I had to finish this quickly; I didn't want to risk overstressing my Magic Veins with the amount of magical power I was going to be using.

" **[Sonic Scissors]!** " I ordered. In response, my beetle reared back and unleashed a wave of powerful hypersonic wind blades from its chest carapace. They struck the snake monster with deadly effect, actually cracking the scales of the double-headed monster with their impacts. Even if the element wasn't geared to counter the Devil Taijitu or its serpentine physiology, these were Circle 5 spell-equivalent attacks.

In response, the Devil Taijitu hissed and charged towards my Giant Hercules Beetle with the intent of either biting it or constricting it. Not on my watch.

" **[Horn Buster]!** " I shouted, channeling more magic into my monster to use its strongest offensive ability.

With another roar, the giant beetle lowered its head down and opened its rear carapace to unveil its wings. Taking off with a ground-cracking jump, it shot forwards, gathering a glow of orange magic around its horn.

With an almighty crash, the two monsters collided. The Devil Taijitu came off worse, being flung back in a fountain of blood as its first head was destroyed. Not only was it seriously out-massed by my Giant Hercules Beetle, the effect of the **[Horn Buster]** ability tripled the damage from its impact. Had it _pierced_ the snake monster, its damage would have been multiplied by _six_ rather than three.

Of course, my monster didn't come away from the clash _completely_ unharmed. Some of its carapace had been gouged off, but it was nothing serious.

"Wow." Amelia breathed before she looked at me sharply. "You're having a hard time with using that thing."

I was indeed panting a bit from the strain. The Giant Hercules Beetle _did_ have a high Magical power cost for all of its abilities, after all. "I don't exactly have a choice." I retorted. "And keep alert; that thing's still alive!"

Thanks to its **[Double Brain]** ability, a Devil Taijitu could survive the destruction of one of its head with no loss in functionality. Sure enough, the second head reared up and hissed at us furiously.

"Run away, you vindictive snake." I muttered before ordering another **[Sonic Scissors]** barrage. Wise to this attack now, the Devil Taijitu slithered and writhed away from most of the sonic blades, but was hit by a few, opening up a handful of openings in its formerly impenetrable hide.

"Aim for those holes while I occupy its attention!" I told my friends, who did just that, peppering the snake in fire, water and earth spells, with an **[Earth Lance]** actually piercing right through its body, making it screech in agony.

"Nice shot, Lily!" I called.

"Finish the bastard thing!" Amelia shouted.

"Yes, ma'am." I rolled my eyes before finishing things with another **[Horn Buster]** attack. As before, the Devil Taijitu lost its head and _this_ time, it stayed down.

"Tay, you look really pale." Emma said worriedly.

"I'm a newbie Summoner using a Circle 5 monster's abilities." I smiled wanly. "It's to be expected. Anyway, we have to drag this corpse back to show Master Clarke. It shouldn't be on this island and that means trouble."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked in confusion. "It's not far between the two islands; I could probably swim it."

"There's a magic barrier that prevents monsters from Canis Major swimming across to Canis Minor and vice versa." I informed them. "If a Devil Taijitu Snake is here, then either there's a hole in the barrier…"

"…or someone deliberately brought it across." Amelia finished with narrowed eyes. "Why? To kill someone?"

"I have no clue." I admitted. "These islands are directly under the aegis of the Sirius Mage Guild, so it would have to be an inside job. The Mage Guild and Mage Council are officially neutral towards internal kingdom affairs, so it can't be because of you, unless your father's robbed the Guild or something recently, which I doubt he did, as there would be a more formal response involving you being kicked out."

"That leaves personal grudges and rogue freelancing on the part of a member of the Mage's Guild." Lily said, looking troubled. "That isn't good in either case."

"Let's let Master Clarke take lead on this." I decided. "He's the senior Mage Guild representative present. I still have to get my Devil Mamba though…"

Emma walked nervously around the twitching corpse of the Devil Taijitu and gulped. "Uh…found it?"

Blinking in mild confusion, we all followed her. Lying supine in the bushes was the corpse of a Devil Mamba. Evidently it had tried to ambush me, only to be ambushed by its larger cousin instead. How ironic.

"So my plan worked." I concluded. "Go me?"

I pulled out a length of rope from my rucksack that I had found for this scenario and tied one end to the Devil Mamba and one to the Devil Taijitu, looping the rope over the horn of my Giant Hercules Beetle as I did so.

"Hop on guys." I invited them. "This'll be quicker than walking."

Somewhat nervously, they all got on board, my beetle even helping them on with one chitin-clad limb. I was so glad that I had gotten this monster; it kinda reminded me of Atlas.

Seating myself at the base of its horn, I ordered the giant insect to advance towards the enclave at a reasonable speed. Moving like an organic armoured tank, the beetle charged through the forest, following my mental directions to keep it moving along the path, the two corpses being dragged behind us.

When we reached the enclave, Master Clarke was positively gaping at us when we casually dismounted from my Circle 5 monster, and casually handed over both the corpses of a Circle 3 monster and a Circle 5 monster. Then we got hustled into his temporary office and told him about the fight and our suspicions about the Devil taijitu Snake.

"Well-reasoned." He said after a moment of stunned contemplation. "What worries me is that the only people who could have done this are Master Weber and Master Merle. Any breach of the barrier would be reported to both of them. I sincerely hope that when I examine the Devil Taijitu Snake, I discover that it is a recently evolved specimen. You should all rest, especially you, Miss Hebert; commanding such a powerful monster at your current level must have been exhausting."

I had recalled my Giant Hercules Beetle back into its crystal, but I was still pale and tired. In response to Master Clarke's question, I shook my head. "Not really. It didn't fight me at all, just took magical power from me in order to power its special abilities."

"Hmmm…it must respect you for some reason." Master Clarke mused. "Ordinarily, monsters above Circle 3 are stroppy; the Summoner has to prove themselves to their monsters before they stop resisting. A Summon resisting their commands forces a Summoner to expend more magic to control them. That you have gained the respect of a Circle 5 monster on your _first use_ of it…well, suffice to say, I am impressed."

I blushed at that praise. "I just…clicked with it. By the way, can I name my monsters? I've not found anything to say either way in any book."

"You _can_." Master Clarke nodded slowly. "But I would recommend that you wait until the end of your Second Year to do so. A Summoner giving a name to a Summon forges a deeper connection between them and allows the monster to start growing and possibly even evolving them immediately if they are weak enough. It also drains the Summoner significantly of magical power for a day and a night, sometimes more depending on how powerful the Summon in question is."

"Understood, Professor." I said seriously.

Just then, a mad series of knocks on the door to the office disturbed us. Master Clarke looked annoyed.

"What is it?!" he barked in irritation.

The door opened to reveal a pale and worried looking soldier, who I recognised as the Squad Captain in charge of the Canis Minor Defense Division.

"S-sorry to interrupt, Master Clarke, but…" he swallowed. "An elven ship has been spotted heading straight towards Canis Minor. It'll be here within the hour."

Oh…lovely.

 **So, this is flowing along rather nicely. Hope you all are enjoying it.**

 **By the way, if you didn't already know, one of my ficlets here, Demon Lord of the Swarm, has been adopted by The Aura King. The fic is called Demon Lord of the End and I encourage you to head over and see what you think of it.**


	108. Soul Transmigration Arc End

**Soul Transmigration Arc End (Original chapter Chapter 102)**

Elves.

Ever since I had heard Master Clarke mention them at the start of term, I had dug into research about this non-human race in my spare time via the Academy's library and a very helpful librarian, who was thrilled to have such a studious Mage-in-Training.

Elves, as it turned out, did not occupy large kingdoms in the world, rarely taking up more than a dozen islands in total per kingdom, but their military forces were even matches for human kingdoms many times their size. This was, in the main, due to both their long lifespans granting them many, _many_ years to learn their craft, and the fact that ALL elves were naturally born with Core Crystals, meaning that they were a race of mages. It had, as a matter of fact, been an elven mage several hundred years ago who had deduced the method by which human mages could gain Core Crystals.

They also had direct communication with their 'gods' (No, I did not stutter) and all elves had access to a living golem that followed them around their whole lives. The elven pantheon had the 'greater' gods, which had the usual setup of a single patriarchal figure with numerous gods and goddesses as his family and subordinates, as well as the 'lesser' gods. The Lesser Gods, known to us humans as the Apostles, were elves who had taken a single aspect of life to the ultimate and perfect form, being raised to the status of an immortal and being assigned to being the Apostle of whatever they had perfected.

Using their golems as a medium and vessel, an elf could fire spells without drawing on their own magical power, so long as they had made proper observances towards the Apostles they were going to invoke beforehand.

The fact was though, that elves frequently interfered in the affairs of humans for seemingly inane and nonsensical reasons, when they deigned to give one at all. Last year, just as an example, an elven ship had kidnapped a fisherman for two days before returning him with no memory. Ten years ago, they had sent an archer to assassinate a footman in the service of Lord Biron, with the excuse being 'he's a problem.'

All of that being the case, Master Clarke's muttered series of curses was a surprisingly mild and restrained reaction in my opinion.

"Have all Masters gathered on Canis Minor at once!" he snapped at the soldier, who saluted and ran off. "Girls, Go and join your classmates. Miss Hebert, congratulations on acquiring better materials than I initially assigned for you to find; the Devil Taijitu is yours. The skin will be used for your casting implements and the Academy will no doubt wish to purchase the rest of the corpse, plus the Devil Mamba, from you. Something to discuss later, I think."

Nodding, I led my friends out of the dorm building and to the edge of the enclave.

"Why would elves come here?!" Lily asked urgently.

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "If memory serves, the nearest elven kingdom is the Cygnus Queendom, right?"

"Yes." Amelia nodded. "They border us, the Libra Theocracy and the Cassiopeia Oligarchy to the south. They weren't involved in the incidents inside our kingdom, at least not for the last twenty years. It's been the Princedom of Lupus to the north who has been doing that."

"Regardless of who they are and what they've been doing, we should be careful." I said decisively. "Elves are tricky characters and we have no idea why they're here or what they want. The masters will try and protect us, but elves are almost always a Master of at least one Sphere if they're in the military, and it's almost always a military ship that deliberately enters the central waters of human kingdoms like this."

"You read that in a book, didn't you?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. Shaking her head at my shrug, she just sighed. "Well, here's hoping that nothing happens."

The next hour was more than slightly angst-filled, but the sight of the elven ship coming into vision of the naked eye was quite a spectacular one. Elven ships look like upsized versions of Ancient Greek Triremes, minus the banks of oars. Not only was it bigger, the entire ship was what I would call a work of art, with the outer hull having a carving of a bird of prey burned into the hull, from beneath the fo'c's'le to just before the stern. Embroidered onto the sail was what looked like a gothic letter, but what I knew was actually an elven rune, although I had no clue as to what it meant.

"An elven _Soaring Eagle_ -class frigate." Amelia identified it after a moment. "That symbol on the sail is the emblem of a Noble House."

Elves had 'Houses' in their kingdoms, which were basically alliances of various families for a specific purpose. The Royal Houses were all related to one another distantly, at least according to the book I had read. Noble Houses rarely left their kingdoms, leaving that to Military or Mercantile Houses.

So why was one _here_ , of all places?

All of us students were herded into the dorms and ordered to be silent before the elven ship docked. Fortunately, the dorm was easily within earshot of the pier, so we could listen in to the conversation.

Master Clarke led the delegation of Masters, with the soldiers arrayed in stiff and formal military parade formation ashore. By contrast, only three elves disembarked from the ship, all wearing fancy, but serviceable clothes in white, with fancy runes and patterns embroidered on them in various colours.

Elves, I found, were not like Vulcans from _Star Trek_ in regards to their ears' shape and size. Their ears were long and pointed like daggers, and twitched every so often. I also found them somewhat androgynous. Each possessed an egg shaped golem about the size of a watermelon floating at their shoulders.

"Greetings. I am James Clarke, Master of the First Order and the representative of the Sirius Mage Guild, as well as the ranking member of the Mage Council on the Canis Isles." Master Clarke stated formally. "Might I ask for your names?"

"I am Lord Davide." The central figure stated softly, pronouncing it dah-veed. "I am the current Patriarch of House Davide, of what you humans refer to as the Cygnus Queendom. These two are my bodyguards."

He gestured carelessly at the other two elves to either side of him.

"I see. Might I enquire as to why you have some to us here on the Canis Isles?" Master Clarke asked carefully.

"You are of the Kingdom of Sirius' Mage Academy?" Lord Davide asked, apparently ignoring Master Clarke's question.

"Yes, I am in charge of the First Year Students in the dormitory building behind me." The master said calmly.

"Excellent. I have three students for you." The elvish lord said in satisfaction.

Master Clarke might have started in shock; I know almost every student in the dorm did, including me.

"I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that the Cygnus Queendom had its own, very fine, Academy for Magic?" Master Clarke said delicately.

"Sadly, these students are not welcome there due to their heritage." Lord Davide said with a sigh. "They are half-elves."

Oh. Oh dear. Half-elves.

A fair few humans disliked half-elves, but the older elves cordially despised 'half-breeds' as they were called. They were very rare as well, since it took not just the usual biological process for a human man to inseminate an elven woman or for an elven man to impregnate a human woman, but also the human had to be a particularly powerful Mage in their own right. The number of human mages that went to the kingdoms of the elves is carefully monitored, so discovering who their fathers were would be fairly simple, but that would cause a scandal in the Mage's Guild and Mage Council.

But _three_ half-elves at once? That was an unprecedented number.

"…ah." Master Clarke said weakly. He shook himself before continuing. "Ah. May I ask if their human parents…?"

"…are not from this kingdom." Lord Davide assured him. "Their human parents came from a kingdom _most_ distant and are unlikely to bother you."

"Might I assume that they are of age with the children I am currently watching over?" Master Clarke enquired.

"Twelve human-years old." The elven lord confirmed. "Forty-eight seasons old to we elves."

Oh yeah, elves went by seasons rather than years sometimes. Weird.

"And their academics?" Master Clarke pressed.

"Their skill at reading and writing the human language is slightly advanced for their age, as is their mathematics, but their social skills are somewhat stunted due to their…heritage." Lord Davide stated. "Their Core Crystals were formed approximately three months ago, as I believe your students' own were also?"

Huh…evidently, half-elves didn't have inborn Core Crystals like their full-blooded brethren. Interesting.

"Correct." The Master nodded once. "I must ask for payment for this service on behalf of the Academy if we are to go through with it. Also, might I ask what provision there are for the holidays?"

Lord Davide merely clicked his fingers once and a chest was levitated down from the deck of his ship. "This is full of modestly rare materials and reagents in payment for their first two years. Another payment will be made for their final two. As for the holidays…I am at a loss. Their elven parents have indicated a lack of willingness to see them again…ever."

"I…see." Master Clarke said, his voice not sounding happy about that. "Well perhaps a student will invite them home for the holidays. Failing that, I am certain that accommodations can be made available to them and a Mage designated as a temporary guardian during the times of the holidays."

"Thank you, Master Clarke." Lord Davide sounded relieved.

"I have perhaps two further questions, if I may." Master Clarke said evenly. "Most Nobles who attend our Academy either return to oversee their family estates or join the Guild upon graduation, whereas those not of Noble birth join the Kingdom of Sirius Army or Navy as a way to repay their debts. Neither applies to these children, so may I ask what you see them doing post-graduation?"

"Returning to the Queendom would be…approaching impossible for them." The elven lord stated quietly, with a grimace on his face. My group had a Wind Sphere listening spell active, so we were probably the only ones who heard him. "Joining the Guild will likely be their best option, or otherwise finding employment in your country. They are as aware of this as I am."

"I see." Master Clarke said. "For my last question…do they actually wish to attend the Academy?"

"Yes." Lord Davide nodded emphatically. "They were unhappy in the Queendom and desire to go elsewhere and become self-sufficient. Becoming a Mage was the best route for that."

"Very well." Master Clarke nodded. "Would having a student here ease their nerves when they disembark?"

"I would think so. Who was it that slew that Devil Taijitu Snake there?" the elven man asked. He had sharp eyes; the snake's corpse was quite some distance away!

"That would be the current highest-ranking student of the First Years." Master Clarke replied. "She's Lord Hebert's Heir. Would you like me to call her out?"

"Please do. The three children, all girls, are very shy about boys." Lord Davide said with a sunny smile.

"Miss Hebert, please shut off your spell and come out, please." Master Clarke said dryly. I flushed at that; he had known I was listening in the entire time. Great, I could probably expect a telling off for that.

Ending my spell, I nodded at the others and smoothed my dress down with another spell before heading out to meet the elves.

As I approached the pier, it became obvious that someone was watching from the ship; I caught sight of three pairs of eyes watching me from the main cabin of the ship.

"Lord Davide, this is Miss Taylor Hebert, Heiress of the Hebert Family and daughter of Earl Daniel Hebert and his Lady, Annette Hebert." Master Clarke introduced me once I was near enough. I dipped a curtsey at Lord Davide, which he acknowledged.

"Miss Hebert." He greeted me. "Do tell how you managed to defeat a Devil Taijitu."

"I am a Summoner and am in possession of a Circle 5 Monster of my own, my lord." I answered steadily. "I summoned it and used it to defeat the Devil Taijitu in combination with my roommates."

" _You_ are able to control a Circle 5 monster?" one of Lord Davide's guards snorted in disbelief. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Georges, we've talked about speaking out of turn before, haven't we?" Lord Davide said mildly.

"My Lord." The man said, but he flashed a superior look at me as he returned to his neutral expression.

Oh, you are _asking_ for it, buddy.

Out of reflex, I checked my bandolier and the crystal containing my Giant Hercules Beetle. It had returned to normal now and stood ready to be summoned.

"Begging my lord's pardon, but I can simply summon my monster to prove my story." I offered with a hint of steel in my voice. "I dislike being accused of lying."

Lord Davide raised his eyebrows in surprise before looking to Master Clarke. "Is that permissible?"

"I supplied the containment circle that she used to summon the creature she speaks of, Lord Davide." Master Clarke sighed. "But I am afraid that my word would be of little good here, as Miss Hebert's pride as a Noble and a Mage has been stung. Very well, Miss Hebert. Please summon your monster…over there on the shore, if you please. There's no room over here."

Nodding, I curtseyed again before hurrying off to the shore. Once I was there, I took the crystal from its pocket and was about to start summoning it when a massive explosion of seawater erupted from in front of me and a massive blue serpent with three ruby eyes on either side of its head emerged from the sea.

I recognised it immediately; it was a Leviathan Sea Drake, the monster which was the crest of my Family. It was a Water Sphere Circle 5 monster which could more than hold its own against monsters up to two Circles above it. I was _screwed_ , but I was not going to go down without a fight.

" _ **Beast sealed in crystal, hear my call!**_ " I chanted rapidly. " _ **Emerge from thine confinement to serve your master! I summon thee!**_ "

Throwing down my crystal, the large form of my Giant Hercules Beetle rapidly emerged. As soon as it did, I scrambled atop of it and ordered it into the sky. Just in time too. Bare seconds after I took flight, the Leviathan unleashed one of its special abilities, **[Surging Sea Cannon]** , a powerful blast of water that could cut through foot-thick stone like a hot knife through butter, at my last position, tearing up the earth.

"Dammit!" I cursed as the Leviathan ceased its attack almost immediately and started to track me. "It's after me!"

This _had_ to be someone's Summon monster. Leviathan Sea Drakes were usually only found in the northern seas of the Kingdom of Sirius, and even then rarely showed themselves unless it was their mating season or if someone deliberately provoked them. They were known as the Sleeping Giants of the Seas for that reason. For one to be here, over a week's journey from their nesting territories, meant that _someone_ , possibly the same bastard responsible for the Devil Taijitu, was controlling this one.

" _ **Apostle of Hunting, descend!**_ " A calm voice boomed and I saw the golem in front of Lord Davide glowing yellow. " _ **Your eloquent words are akin to arrows of light!**_ **[Lok]!** "

The next moment, _hundreds_ of beams of light erupted from the golem and arced towards the Leviathan, striking it all along its body and making it roar in pain.

" **[Sonic Scissors]!** " I shouted, adding my monster's own long range attack to the party, scoring several hits across its head.

"Miss Hebert, it seems you are its target." Master Clarke projected to me via a Wind Spell of some sort. "The other Masters and I will be adding our spells to the barrage, so please focus on evasion until the leviathan is defeated."

"It's a Summon, Professor." I told him. "Keep an eye out for where the crystal goes after it is defeated."

"Noted."

The sheer amount of spells that the masters were unleashing at the Leviathan Sea Drake was astonishing; spells of so many Spheres that I had to wonder exactly how powerful the masters were really. What was almost more astonishing was how damned _resilient_ the Leviathan Sea Drake was being! It was shrugging off the spells from Master Clarke and his fellows as if they weren't even there!

" _ **Apostle of Rainclouds, descend! Your endless lash is the blade of justice.**_ **[Calgo]!** "

" _ **Apostle of Air, descend! Your strong fingers are sacred swords.**_ **[Frei]!** "

" _ **Apostle of Projectiles, descend! Your unbreakable will is an arrow that never misses the target.**_ **[Iere]!** "

The three elven men on the dock were also pouring on the spells. One unleashed a length of yellow energy that formed into a ring that bore down on the Leviathan like a giant buzz saw, one fired ten bolts of yellow energy that pierced the Leviathan in several parts of its body and the last fired a single bolt that pierced one of the great beast's eyes.

It still wasn't enough to even _slow down_ the Leviathan. And it was now firing blasts of high-pressure water at me like nobody's business.

"Lord Davide." I said once I mumbled the correct spell. "Do you have anything capable of stopping the movement of the Leviathan temporarily? I think my Giant Hercules Beetle's main attack can damage it enough to force it to retreat, but I won't be able to hit it if it keeps swaying like that."

"Certainly, I have a spell that can do that." The elven lord replied instantly. "Be ready to attack in about a minute."

"Yes, my lord." I replied.

Seconds later, I heard all three elves chanting the same aria.

" _ **Apostle of Bindings, descend! Your immovable grip is the beacon that lights the way!**_ **[Rom]!** "

In a trice, the Leviathan's massive body was wrapped up by countless ropes of light. I didn't waste my chance.

" **[Horn Buster]!** " I ordered and shuddered as the magical power was drained from me. The main attack of my Giant Hercules Beetle was triple the magical power that **[Sonic Scissors]** , and my magical power was already drained from using it twice just a short hour or so ago. Still, this was the best chance I had to take this thing down.

With a roar from my monster, the familiar orange glow surrounded its horn and we flew straight at the head of the Leviathan, striking it like the fist of an angry god. The horn actually managed to pierce through the skin and out the other side, as I had made my mount charge it from the side, not wanting to give the damned oversized sea snake a chance to use its long-range attack on me. That meant my mount had just dealt _six times_ its normal amount of damage rather than triple.

With a shriek, the Leviathan Sea Drake started to turn into crystal and shrink, returning to its sealed form as it was defeated. Once it was barely visible, it sped into the reluctant hand of the Master who had come over from Canis Major…Master Merle.

It didn't take long before Master Clarke had the rogue Master stripped of his crystals and bound hand and foot. At that point I landed, dismounting from my mount with a fond pat on its carapace. I think it purred or something.

"Miss Hebert." The elven bodyguard who had dissed me earlier stepped forward and bowed low to me. "My apologies for dismissing your abilities and disbelieving your capabilities."

"Apology accepted." I said somewhat magnanimously. "I _am_ only twelve years old and a human at that. It's not surprising that you would disbelieve my abilities with my youth and race against me."

With another bow, the man retreated to his lord's side.

"Well, well, well. This is a magnificent specimen of a Giant Hercules Beetle." Lord Davide said as she stepped forwards himself. "You have somehow earned its allegiance too, haven't you? I find myself quite jealous; Circle 5 monsters are notoriously picky about to whom they give their allegiance. To have gained its immediate loyalty like this…you are one to watch, Miss Hebert."

I blushed and stammered my thanks before hastily returning my Beetle to its crystal before staggering at the loss of magical power.

"Ah, allow me." The elf lord smiled as his golem floated above me. " _ **Apostle of Eternity, descend! Your restorative aura is the poetry of time!**_ **[Kalute]!** "

A wave of yellow energy washed over me and I gasped as I felt my tiredness and almost empty Core refill instantly with more magical power. I could also tell, somehow, that my veins were reinforced a bit more as well.

"It's quite the heady feeling, isn't it?" Lord Davide smiled understandingly. "Now then, we'd better introduce you to the children while Master Clarke is busy interrogating that idiotic man."

I had never seen Master Clarke so obviously furious since I had met him. He was shouting at the cowering Master Merle with an expression of such contempt and disgust on his face that I'm surprised the other man wasn't sinking into the dirt beneath him.

Georges went back aboard ship and returned with three girls about my height, hesitating at the boarding ramp. Unlike full-blooded elves, their ears were a lot more like a Vulcan's, except about an inch or so longer. Then I got a good look at who they were. My self-control slipped for a bare second as they were escorted off the ship as I caught sight of their faces…faces from my previous life that I could never forget.

Lisa…Dinah…Sabah…

They were the half-elves…

 **OK, so here's where I'm ending it for the moment. I may well come back to it at a later point, but this is what you've got for the moment. Enjoy. Sorry for the very-evil cliffie there. ^_^**


	109. Star Light, Star Bright Chapter 2

**Star Light, Star Bright Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 69)**

 _Later That Day_

 _Living Room, Dallon Home_

"You screwed up, Mr. Hebert." Carol Dallon sighed. "Harassing the girl is only going to make her put her back up."

The lawyer was seated on her armchair, with a somewhat haggard-looking Danny Hebert seated opposite her. He had just finished telling her about Taylor's blow-up at him and everything leading up to it.

"I know." The man said quietly. "But I'm just…I lost my wife just a year and a half ago, and just came this close to losing Taylor a month ago. I can't handle the possibility that she might…get hurt…or worse out there."

"And what her former friend and her father has done to her makes it harder to trust someone who is also a lawyer, correct?" the lawyer guessed shrewdly. Alan Barnes had tried some very complicated legal acrobatics to get Emma the most lenient sentence she could possibly get. Thanks to the fact that she was brainwashed by Shadow Stalker and clearly mentally scarred from that encounter with the ABB, she was given a very light sentence of no more modelling jobs, some financial payment to the Heberts and a long course of therapy to counter Shadow Stalker's nonsense and to mitigate her mental trauma.

 _Shadow Stalker_ , on the other hand, was out of the Wards, in juvenile detention and her case would be reviewed for possible penal action once she became of age. Madison Clements was virtually a non-entity compared to the other two, a hanger-on who kept close to the others and pointed out possible targets for them. An enabler, certainly, but not criminally liable. She was being dealt with by the juvenile system.

"Once bitten, twice shy." Danny said with a shrug. "You also have that 'no masks' policy in New Wave, which doesn't make me feel happy about the possibility of Taylor joining you."

"New Wave's policy…!" Carol began.

"Is all very well for two families composed entirely of Parahumans, but it is a _death sentence or worse_ for those who live alone or with non-powered members." Danny cut her off firmly. "I'm sorry, but I am not comfortable with your policy, so I…oh, I'm doing it again. Her power, her choice."

"It is, but you should have some say in it as her father." Carol told him. "Still, you _have_ to step back and give her some space. You're _both_ too keyed up about the subject. Not to mention the fact that I'm certain that Director Piggot will be eyeing her."

"What do you mean?" Danny blinked.

"Danny, she is an Eidolon-ite." She explained patiently. "Just that fact would be enough, because in time, she'll be _Triumvirate_ -tier. More than that, Director Piggot is one of only two ordinary human survivors of the Elisburg Debacle and she _does not_ trust Parahumans, even if she's scrupulously fair regardless. She strong-armed Shadow Stalker into the Wards as soon as she crossed the line and she'll be looking for the least excuse to do that with someone who makes Shadow Stalker's powers look like a sideshow trick. You need to support her, advise her perhaps, not browbeat her into submission."

The Union Rep for the Dockworkers Association let out a tired sigh. "Annette was always someone who stuck to her convictions. Taylor takes after her mother way too much."

Carol recalled what she had heard about the deceased older woman in the Hebert household. A former woman's rights activist, a smart woman who backed up her beliefs with actions. An English Literature Professor at a local college, who was very non-judgmental in regards to people. By all accounts, a very respectable and redoubtable woman. If young Taylor Hebert was anything like her mother, she was bound to be difficult to convince, especially with her year-long abandonment by parents and school faculty.

"I think I may have an idea you may be amendable to, Mr. Hebert." Carol said with a smile and started laying out a plan that was the essence of politics; a compromise on all sides.

 _The Next Day_

 _With Taylor, Boat Graveyard_

" _ **Constellation of the Hare – Lepus!**_ " I said, and I felt the stars shining on my forehead as I activated the first 'node' of my main power and selected a sub-power to use in it.

I often imagined that the three 'nodes' that allowed me to have three powers active per day were in a triangular shape. I could fill all of them and shift between them freely, without having to follow lines that would force me to cycle through them to get to the one that I wanted. Kinda like pressing a button on a console.

My rabbit ears…yes, some of my powers came with an automatic Changer part to them…atop my head twitched. I hadn't used this particular Constellation before, so I was carefully noting everything about it. Miss Militia had been kind enough, when she came to apologise on the behalf of the Protectorate and PRT about that bitch tornado Sophia almost killing me for the second time, to give me a list of all the various categories that the PRT used to codify the various kinds of Parahuman powers. I'd already known about Alexandria (Brute, Mover and Thinker), Legend (Blaster, Breaker, Mover and Thinker) and Eidolon (Trump), but some of the other categories had caught me a bit off guard.

I was the same as Eidolon, a Trump and probably very close to him on the power scale…aside from the fact, while I can choose three powers out of eighty-plus powers every day, he randomly shuffle three powers at complete random _whenever he wants_. I think he has me beaten there, just a bit.

Lepus was currently giving me enhanced senses; hearing and smell, anyway. That put it at Thinker 1 so far. I also felt really good, so perhaps I got a mover power as well? Or a Brute power?

Abruptly, I felt a mild sense of danger from behind me, so I instinctively leapt into the air, sailing over the surprised looking Glory Girl who had been about to tap me on the shoulder. Huh. I was definitely more agile than in my base form. A lot stronger too; I was definitely over the limit that an ordinary jump should have lifted me over without a running start.

"Easy!" A female voice -not Glory Girl- said as I landed and prepared for flight or to fight. I turned my head slightly and saw Laserdream with her hands out in a placating fashion, Panacea and Shielder standing next to her. "Sorry about surprising you like that. Glory Girl here just wanted to say hello."

I figured that New Wave all knew about me thanks to the PRT and Panacea, but I'd never expected them to come and find me like this.

"I'm…testing out powersets here." I said carefully. "You're lucky I chose something as relatively harmless as this one. Otherwise my reaction may not have been to dodge."

"How'd you know I was here anyway?" Glory Girl asked, seemingly not put out by my reaction to her. "I was sure I was quiet."

I wiggled my ears. "One, I have rabbit ears. Or _hare_ ears, whatever. Enhanced hearing. Two, I have a kind of danger sense in this form."

"May I?" Panacea asked as she walked over to me, giving her sister a reproving look that bounced off the other girl's irrepressibility like a bullet off a tank's armour.

"What is it you want to do?" I asked the healer. I had a lot of time for Panacea; if it wasn't for her, I'd still be in that damned coma.

"I'd like to scan you and see if there's anything different about your body in this form." The smaller girl replied.

"Is that all? Sure, go ahead." I said, extending my hand to her. She rested her hand on it for a moment before her eyes widened.

"One of those pockets of blurred DNA has been cleared up!" she exclaimed excitedly. "It's…hare DNA? _Lepus timidus_."

"Makes sense. I _am_ using the Constellation of the Hare." I said with a smirk.

"Constellation?" Shielder asked in confusion.

"My powers are divided into eighty-odd different power sets, not including my baseline Brute powers." I explained with a shrug. "When I activate them, I get an image of an animal or object, which always corresponds to one of the constellations, modern and old."

"Are they all like this one?" Laserdream asked.

"Nope. Some make me change into animals or animal hybrids, while others don't give me a shape-change at all." I laughed. "Some of the powers I get are _weird_ though; like, would you ever associate a peacock with ships?"

"A _peacock_? No." Shielder snorted.

"Well, for whatever reason, the _**Constellation of the Peacock – Pavo**_ makes me a Tinker, with the specialty of ships." I rolled my eyes. "What possible use can I have for a Tinker ability that lets me build ships? Especially with Leviathan out there?"

"Is it just seagoing ships?" Panacea asked.

"No; riverboats, DUKWs…all kinds of boats and ships as long as they are water-going vessels." I answered. "Anyway, fun as it is to talk to you all, can I ask why you're here?"

"OK, but…let us finish talking before you fly off the handle, OK?" Laserdream asked, which made me somewhat tense.

"OK." I said nervously.

"We know you and your Dad have been butting heads about joining the Wards." Laserdream began.

"After what that bitch Shadow Stalker did to her, are you really surprised." Glory Girl interjected with an unladylike snort.

Shooting her cousin a quelling look, Laserdream continued. "Ahem! Yeah, well…Brandish has been talking to him and come up with a compromise that you might like."

"Dad? Compromising?" I was somewhat in disbelief about that. Part of the reason he was so respected at the Dockworker's Association was that he had fought tooth and claw to get his workers jobs whenever it was possible. He had done this through sheer willpower and a no-holds-barred policy on negotiating.

"He's tired, haggard and not in the right mental space for negotiating." Panacea, who was still holding my hand, told me.

OK, feeling a little guilty here…

"Don't feel guilty." Evidently, Shielder saw me slumping. "Both of you are too close to the problem to see a solution…plus, you're both as stubborn as each other."

That made me laugh a bit. Yep, the apple didn't fall far from the tree with us.

"OK, so what's the compromise?" I asked.

"You get to be an Indie like you want, _and_ you get to team up with us. Win-win, right?" Glory Girl smirked.

"Basically, we're going to be mentoring you." Laserdream said with an eye roll at Glory Girl's antics. "New Wave will also be expanding our patrols to include your area to make sure your Dad isn't targeted. We even have a stand-in costume for you."

Shielder shucked a backpack I hadn't noticed he was wearing and pulled out a white costume with a star sewn onto the middle of the chest.

"Why do this for me?" I asked blankly. I was so used to everyone and everything being against me that people actually helping me was unnerving.

"Several reasons." Panacea told me. "One, we know what you had to go through to get your powers. Your Dad can try and imagine, but…he isn't a parahuman. He can't imagine what it's like to survive what you had to go through like we can…although we can't either, as we're second Gen parahumans, so our…Trigger Events were a lot less traumatic than yours was."

I shuddered as memories of The Locker came back to me. Panacea squeezed my hand before continuing.

"Two, we don't blame you for not wanting to join the Wards after what Shadow Stalker did to you." She said.

"We knew she was a Grade-A bitch, but not a total psycho." Shielder chipped in. "She never unmasked to anyone outside of the Protectorate, PRT or Wards, so we never knew who she was underneath the mask. Frankly, she wasn't someone we _wanted_ to get to know."

"The rest of the Wards aren't like that, though." Glory Girl added hastily. "Vista's a total sweetie and wishes she had a female teammate that wasn't Shadow Stalker. Gallant's pretty cool, Aegis can be a little stiff sometimes, Kid Win's distracted sometimes, but a good guy, while Clockblocker's a total troll, although he means well. They're good people."

"Why didn't they report HER activities and attitude, then?" I asked, a hint of anger in my voice.

"They did. They were told to suck it up and get along with her." Laserdream told me sympathetically. "I hear they're getting a couple of transfers in from New York who were under Legend or Chevalier."

"Haaah…" I sighed. "OK, I'll give it a try. I'll only use this costume until I make my own though…white clothes aren't my kinda thing, usually."

I got changed into my costume (how did they get my sizes?) in a nearby abandoned ship. Good thing I'd shaved everywhere this morning; I doubt I could have borne the embarrassment of being exposed as unshaven in front of heroes.

The last item was a surprise; a half-face mask. It was explained to me that I wasn't obliged to follow New Wave's 'No Mask' policy when I wasn't officially a member.

"OK, so we're going to go on patrol…do you have a power that can fly?" Laserdream asked as I emerged. "You'll also need a Cape Name."

I smirked. "I'm torn between 'Stargazer' and 'Starbright' myself. As for flight… _ **Constellation of the Swan – Cygnus!**_ "

In a flash, my hare ears retreated into my scalp and a pair of large white wings emerged from my back. Cygnus was one I had tried early on. This power set let me fly around fairly easily, as well as displaying some minor control over air and water in a radius of about twenty meters around me. It was actually pretty damn cool.

"Whoa…" Glory Girl breathed. "You…may want a different one. That makes you look like the Simurgh."

"Fuck." I hit my forehead with the heel of my hand. "Right. Well, I only have one more power set slot available, and I want to keep it open in case something unexpected happens, so I think it's either going with this or Lupus' superspeed."

"Ah, fast like a hare…cool." Shielder nodded. "Go back to Lupus and stop every now and then to keep track of us."

"Roger that." I went back to Lupus as easily as flipping a switch. There also weren't any holes in the back of my costume either; when I Changed, my clothes Changed with me for some reason. I was happy about it, really; it meant that I wouldn't have to worry about replacing clothes from destroying them inadvertently.

On with the patrol!

 _Later_

 _Rooftop, Broadwalk_

"How're you not covered in sweat?" Glory Girl asked me as she landed next to me, carrying Panacea.

"I think I have an enhanced body with this power set." I shrugged. I could outrun a car easily in this form, as well as jump across the rooftops fairly easily. Having a better ability to endure aforementioned running and jumping seems to be a logical extension for the power set of Lupus. I could tire myself out, but only if I deliberately tried to, I think.

"She does." Panacea chimed in. "Her lungs are 150% more efficient and retain more oxygen, while her muscles are built for moderate bursts of speed and activity, as well as being much stronger than their size and density suggests. She could make an Olympian weep right now."

"Wow." Laserdream said, coming in on the tail-end of the healer's explanation. "Panacea doesn't give praise lightly. Lupus must be pretty good to get her to say that much."

The healer blushed at her cousin's words. "It's just the truth."

"Actually, I'm curious here…why are you here, Panacea?" I asked with a frown. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but…you aren't known for patrolling…like, at all."

"Lady Photon told me to stop overdoing it at the hospital." Panacea smiled halfheartedly. "Going on patrol with my sister's at least not healing all the time, so there's that."

"Not like we've found anything to help Stargazer get used to beating up criminals." Glory Girl complained. "No muggers, nothing."

She had been championing Stargazer as my name as opposed to Starbright, which was fair, I suppose. I kinda liked it. At least it wasn't Chubster.

After that we patrolled for a while longer, finding a single mugging that I took care of easily thanks to my speed. A single punch to the man's gut and he was down. I'd been taking very basic self-defense lessons since The Locker; how to punch, how to land without hurting yourself…stuff like that.

"Nice takedown." Laserdream nodded at me. "Basic punch, but still effective. We'll spar at some point, but it looks like you have at least the absolute basics down pat."

"Only a month's worth of lessons, but…well determination can make up for time on occasion." I demurred, a bit of pink dusting my cheeks. "A lot of my power sets are Blaster or Shaker powers, or not direct combat ones, like my Tinker powers."

"Powers? As in, plural?" Panacea asked in disbelief. She had just finished giving both the mugger and the mugging victim a once over and taken care of any problems before the police hauled the former away and took the latter away more gently.

"Yeah. The _**Constellation of the Chemical Furnace – Fornax**_ gives me Chemical Tinker powers." I responded "It would make chemistry homework a breeze if I chose to abuse it that way."

"You've seriously hit the lottery with your powers." Shielder said in amazement.

"It isn't as good as you might think." I disagreed. "Some of my power sets are too big and destructive. The ones I won't -literally **will not** \- use unless it's an Endbringer battle or the Slaughterhouse Nine have come to call are Draco, Hydra and Cetus."

"Dragon, hydra and…whale?" Laserdream blinked.

"Nowadays, we'd call Cetus the Constellation of the _Leviathan_ rather than the _Whale_." I replied with a tight smile.

"Oh…OH!" Glory Girl said, eyes wide. "That…isn't good. You'd have the Fallen on you like…like…"

"Like flies on shit?" Offered Shielder, making all of us girls look at him in mild revulsion.

"Along those lines, but less disgusting, yes." Laserdream said dryly. "Sorry about my brother; he's under the absurd impression that he's witty."

"Hey!"

"He's a boy." I shrugged eloquently.

"So, what's the actual strongest one that you can use?" Glory Girl asked as we relocated to the rooftops again.

"Depends. For pure strength and durability, that would be Hercules." I responded. "I'm just as tough as Alexandria is in that state. At least I think so. Most versatile…probably Lesser Leo or Capricorn. For shock and awe, _definitely_ Leo."

"The Lion? What does that one do?" Laserdream asked.

"How much do you know about Greek mythology?" I asked with a laugh. "Look up the Nemean Lion. _That's_ what I Change into as soon as my power activates with that one."

Boy oh boy, _that_ had been a shock. To go from a slip of a girl to a lion the size of a goddamn bus in less time than it takes to flip a coin and catch it was something of a mindbender. More so since that form has a sonic roar that made Triumph's own look like a muffled 'meow' by comparison, as well as claws so sharp it ripped solid steel apart with a lazy swipe of a paw. A part of me wondered how Hookwolf would fare against it, but the other, more sensible, part of me did _not_ want to run into that happenstance at all _quite_ yet, thank you very much.

The rest of the patrol was unsatisfying (as Glory Girl put it) and had no more criminals bothering decent people and I slipped my clothes on over my costume and removed my mask elsewhere before heading home. This wasn't so bad, so far.

 _That Night_

 _Underground Base, Brockton Bay_

Thomas Calvert, the supervillain known as Coil, cursed loudly in the isolation of his office as, once again, his plan to acquire the Hebert girl fell through. It was maddening that, no matter how he set out the plan and no matter which of her power sets he accounted for, she kept pulling out new ones!

He had tried to capture her at least a dozen times that day, with nothing to show for it other than a throbbing headache. She was difficult for his power to view, for whatever reason, and that meant that she had to be either brought to heel or put down like a dog.

The most recent attempt to capture her had involved a night attack at her home with the full might of his mercenary forces, augmented by both the Undersiders and the Travelers, and she had unleashed the most terrifying power yet; some kind of ultimate Brute form that bounced bullets, lasers and even a car imbued with the power of Ballistic! Regent had been able to affect her, but she had just thrown something at him to knock him out before smashing the rest of the assault force.

' _No…capture is no longer an option._ ' He concluded sourly. Having an Eidolon-ite under his thumb would have been immensely useful, but every direct force he had to play against her had failed. No, it was time to cut his losses and use the idiots from the Merchants, Empire 88 and ABB to take care of this irritating girl for him.

He would have to be careful, however. Nothing could lead back to him for the girl-who-gave-him headaches to follow up on. She was an annoyingly moral girl, he had deduced from her basic profile, although she would compromise her morals for those she cared about. This included killing, as she had ripped a squad of his soldiers apart when they had (accidentally) killed Laserdream on the sixth attempt to capture Taylor Hebert, or 'Stargazer' as she was calling herself.

Silently, Coil sat and plotted, making and discarding a dozen plans before selecting one that had a high chance to expose more of the girl's abilities without any harm coming to him…all of it going to the idiot catspaws of the E88. Even _he_ hated Nazi skinheads, as they were little more than conveniently stupid tools to be used and discarded when their use was over with. Plus, it would weaken the largest group of Capes in the city.

He had plans for taking over the city, but the main problem would happen in the transition period. If the Empire, ABB and Merchants were destroyed, the Teeth, led by the Butcher, would doubtless return. Accord had agreed to stay out of the Bay if Coil took over it, but otherwise he would be throwing his hat into the ring also. Not to mention the gutter scum from cities _aside_ from Boston.

' _I have not spent enough money to bankroll the Protectorate and PRT for a decade on a Parahuman power just to fail._ ' Coil thought determinedly. He would have true power in this city or else…

 **This is a ficlet I always liked, but never got around to getting back to until now. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	110. At My Fingertips Chapter 2

**At My Fingertips Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 25)**

 _The Next Day_

 _Director Piggot's Office, PRT Building, Brockton Bay_

Emily Piggot was generally not known for her tolerance of Parahumans who broke the law and abused their powers in her jurisdiction. This went _doubly_ so for the rare occasion that a Parahuman 'hero' abused their powers. So you might imagine her reaction to the revelation that Shadow Stalker had bullied a girl for fifteen months solid without so much as a peep getting back up the chain of command. Not to mention the fact that the victim had hired Carol Dallon to investigate the case.

And now, with Sophia Hess having escaped from Juvenile Detention with the intent to commit triple murder, only to be beaten down by her bullying victim, she was even less happy.

" _How_ did she escape from her cuffs?!" she demanded of Armsmaster and Miss Militia.

The Tinker shifted. "It was struck numerous times with a heavy object. Probably a rock or a stone. I have started to manufacture a far sturdier version that will not be nearly so easy for her to escape from, using some metals that Dragon has suggested."

"Good." Piggot nodded. "Miss Militia. You were first on the scene yesterday. You interviewed the girl and did research on her self-defense lessons today. Is it possible that she accomplished the defeat of Shadow Stalker without Parahuman powers?"

"Hess was -and is- very arrogant, Director." The Kurdish-American woman replied evenly. "She looks down on Miss Hebert, considers her very much beneath notice, in fact. Miss Hebert, I believe, is a highly driven individual who was weak before and has decided to become stronger physically in order that she never be put in the same position again. Her teachers in self-defense have noted that she is a quick learner and a hard worker. In all likelihood, the combination of Hess' contempt towards Miss Hebert, and Miss Hebert's newfound training in self-defense, combined together to lead to Hess' defeat. I sincerely doubt that Miss Hebert is any kind of Parahuman, otherwise she would have used her powers during this incident."

"Very well." Piggot nodded before looking sour. "And Brandish?"

"She is basically demanding an out of court settlement for the Heberts if we don't want _another_ case plastered over the media." Armsmaster grumbled. "That isn't something we can endure again, Director."

"Our budget cannot take the payout." Piggot snapped back. "The Chief Director has made it clear that any payouts will come entirely from our own budgets and we are _underfunded_ as it is!"

Lapsing into silence, the corpulent woman grimaced. "Arrange a meeting with Brandish and Mr. Hebert. We have to try and negotiate with them in order to salvage SOMETHING from this mess."

 _With Taylor Hebert_

 _Hebert Home_

Flexing my hand, I concentrated again and it faded slightly. Not into shadow, but just into intangibility. I had come home from the PRT Building and started experimenting with the power I had discovered this morning; I could make any single body part of mine intangible.

It had answered a question of mine, that being: is it only Striker effects that I can copy or is it ANY power? The intangibility only lasted about half a minute, but that was enough to be useful as a defense, if nothing else. I'd have to watch out for electrical attacks, as Hess had been weak to them, according to what I had observed from the special cuffs Miss Militia had used yesterday.

This lead to my conundrum…I had ALSO touched both Miss Militia and Armsmaster today, simply by shaking their hands. Armsmaster was a no-go, as he never had any exposed skin for me to touch, but Miss Militia? She wore fingerless gloves. Hell yeah, I had touched her skin.

What worried me was that my copied powers tended to be very much weaker than their originals, or at least a lot more limited. Miss Militia, according to her page on PHO, could 'create a green energy that could be used to create a multitude of weaponry' or so it said. If my version of her power was a great deal weaker than hers, or at least more restricted in what it could make, then I had better choose what I made carefully.

As I had a gun with reasonably easy access, I had tried to make that while staring at it, but nope, no gun in hand for me. I had found a picture of a WWII British Commando Knife online and tried that…and it worked. Which led me to trying to manifest two at once. Again, it had worked.

More experimentation later and I found my limit was ten kinds of knives. Not exactly a sterling arsenal compared to Miss Militia and her walking armoury, but it was something at least. Also, the energy wasn't green for me…it was silver. Why, I don't know, but whatever.

This led me to considering what I could do with my current skills, which wasn't a lot. I had Panacea's biomonitoring power, a weak version of Shadow Stalker's shadow form and a much more limited version of Miss Militia's weapon creation power. This wasn't mentioning my original psychometry power as well.

From my instructors, I had learned pretty much all of their skills at self-defense using my power. Sophia had been a treasure trove of information about all of her illicit stores of crossbows and live ammo, as well as knives, money and how to use and maintain her crossbow. I knew how to shoot a gun from touching the one that Dad owned, but only regarding shooting at stationary targets.

All in all, it was a pretty limited and scattered repertoire to be a hero with, especially as I didn't want to tip Dad off about the fact that I was planning on becoming a Hero. This required some thought…

 _Three Days Later_

 _Shop, Brockton Bay_

Sometimes, I had to wonder about how shitty my life was going to end up. Had I pissed a god off in another life or something?

I had just been shopping for food when three Merchants had busted in, drugged up to the eyeballs, and started waving pistols around and demanding money from everyone. Seriously? They were knocking over a small grocery store? What next, taking candy from babies?

"Hey, here's a girl!" one called to his friends and pointing at me.

"A bit o' candy and she'll be up for some _fun_." One smirked lewdly.

Goosebumps ran up my spine. They were planning on drugging me and using me as a sex toy? Oh hell no. Fuck this shit. Better dead than a druggie whore.

I sprang into action, smashing my knee into the first man's groin, then, as he screamed and grabbed at his abused balls, I grabbed his gun arm and made him shoot at his friends, hitting one in the arm.

"BITCH!" the last one shouted as his friend fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder and crying like a baby. He raised his weapon, but I brained him with a can of peas just as the pistol reached his shoulder's height. He staggered back and two of the watching people, who had gaped at me actually fighting back, shook themselves from their stupor, tackled the man and wrestled the gun from him.

"Someone call the police!" I shouted as I manhandled the first Merchant, still cradling his junk, next to his friends. As I did so, I quickly ran through his past, grabbing the current locations of Merchant bases and any useful skills that he possessed that didn't involve drugging people or cooking up said drugs.

"Already done." The shop owner said with a wavering sigh.

 _Later_

 _Taylor's Room, Hebert Home_

Dealing with Merchants? No problem. Dealing with an overprotective father on steroids? That was a whole _other_ beast.

It had taken me forever to point out the statistical improbability of that happening in the first place, never mind the possibility of it happening again, to him. He had eventually calmed down and said that at least I wasn't in trouble.

For whatever reason, all of the people at the shop had said that the second Merchant had been shot by the accidental discharge of the first's gun; and that there was no footage on CCTV because the tapes were being changed.

It felt kinda nice that the people there were protecting me from possible legal action. Heck, I'd been acting in my own self-defense, so it was nice to have people looking out for me.

Dad, of course, had the full story and was pissed at me for 'risking myself' like that. He had sung a completely different tune when I had told him what they had been planning on doing to me. His current attitude was 'I'm pissed that you did that, but I'm glad that you did it too' kinda thing.

 _Fathers!_

As to the knowledge that I'd extracted from the Merchant druggie, I now knew where four drug labs, ten stashes of drugs, three safe houses and several other interesting locations were in Brockton Bay. I also now knew the bare bones of how to wield a knife and a few pointers on using a gun. Not much, but the guy I'd taken the information from wasn't exactly as John Wayne in a Western.

I was now preparing to sneak out and pillage the shit out of the Merchant money stashes I knew about. I'd leave an anonymous tip with the BBPD about the drug labs because, for the moment, there was no possible way in hell I was going to single-handedly storm or infiltrate a drug lab without getting myself killed.

Outfit-wise, I was wearing black. Cliché, I know, but what works, works. After experimenting for the last three days, I had discovered that I did not require actual skin to skin contact for my psychometry to work; I merely required that any material between me and the target I was attempting to 'read' was thin. About the same thickness as rubber washing gloves or perhaps a smidgeon thicker was my limit for the moment. That's why I had spray-painted a set of ordinary rubber gloves black earlier on today.

Black trousers and t-shirt, with a black jacket and a balaclava ready to pull down, with my hair tied into a plait behind me, I was ready to go out. Dad was definitely asleep; I had made Mom's Recipe lasagna to calm him down and he always slept well whenever he ate it.

Sneaking out of my house wasn't something I had ever made a habit of doing before, but it was actually easier than I had thought. Jump down to the garage roof beneath my window and then drop down to the ground from that. Easy as pi.

The nearest Merchant place to my house was a drug lab, so I'd avoid it. That left a storehouse of sorts just a little way away. In a surprisingly sensible decision for the druggies, they kept their drugs in separate locations from their money and weapons. The one I was heading to was a weapons storehouse that, according to the memories of the drug addict I'd taken them from, was lightly guarded by only three Merchants tonight. Well, _lightly_ for a given value of the word, considering they were armed with Uzis.

Still, it was the most vulnerable of all of the Merchant's places, and they were not the most competent of guards. When I arrived, one was out cold, one was in the middle of snorting a line and the other was in a daze, probably in a transition between consciousness and unconsciousness due to their drugs.

The place they were in was a standard, albeit abandoned, apartment. A bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. They were a in a decoy apartment. The actual weapon storage place was three doors over. Sadly, it was also watched via CCTV in the decoy apartment, so I'd have to do something about that. Fortunately for me, it didn't take long for the three morons to all be conked out on the floor.

That being the case, after pulling down my balaclava, I entered via an open window, went to the CCTV setup, which was really rather nice, and disabled it, removing the drive and throwing it down the toilet of the apartment. Hopefully, the idiots would think that they had done it.

Palming the key to the place, I snuck out of the decoy and to the actual storehouse. Getting in was easy…and oh boy, either the Merchants were planning something big or they were better funded and equipped than the scuttlebutt on PHO made them out to be. The apartment was full to bursting with semi-automatic rifles, handguns, revolvers, grenades, RPG's, ammo for all of the above and even a goddamn _sea mine_ for some reason!

I just had to facepalm at the sight of it. Why? What _possible_ use could a gang of druggies have for a mine made specifically to sink ships at sea?

No, no, Taylor…keep it calm…it's only a fucking mine, just keep yourself calm. Phew.

OK, panic over…let's get to looting.

I grabbed two handguns as a start, along with ten magazines of ammo. I also grabbed a backpack to carry all of it in. The next item on my 'shopping list' was flashbangs. The Merchants never used any, so why they had ten crates of them was beyond me. Ah well…they won't miss a dozen or so.

Out of the corner of my eye, I also caught sight of a bulletproof vest, which I threw in as well. As the last piece, I chose a six-shooter because…well, it looks cool.

Looting completed, I contemplated what to do with the rest of it. No way was I gonna leave it here for the Merchants to use. I could call it in to the BBPD, but would it even be acted on? It isn't as if this place was all that hidden and the memories of the druggie told me it was kind of an open secret that the Merchants had a place in this building. What to do…?

As I left the place fifteen minutes later, walking down the fire escape, I smirked. A quick recon had shown that the Merchants were the only ones in this building, or at least on the three floors above and below the weapons storage apartment, anyway. So, I'd figured out a quick and easy way to rig an explosion in the place involving a candle (which they actually had for some reason. Why?), string, a weight and a single grenade. It was set up so that when the candle burned through the string, it would pull the pin from a grenade, which would hopefully set off a chain reaction and demolish the apartment and its contents.

Strangely enough, I felt absolutely no guilt about any of this whatsoever…not the breaking and entering, not the stealing and certainly not the arson and/or illegal use of military grade ordinance inside a city that I was planning. Strange.

I was several blocks away, raiding one of Shadow Stalker's stores of supplies when I heard the explosion. Whirling around, I whistled at the size of the explosion. As I had anticipated, it hadn't hit the Merchants' decoy apartment…at least, I don't think it did…and I could almost see the three morons being jerked awake by their bosses demanding to know what the hell was going on and why their very expensive stash of weapons was a blasted ruin.

I nodded approvingly and went back to stealing Sophia's hard-earned cash and ammo, even as the sirens shrieked and the police and fire services screamed towards the apartment block, which was now on fire.

 _The Next Day_

 _Kitchen, Hebert Home_

"Morning, Dad." I said from the stove as he stumbled into the room. "Paper's on your place at the table."

"Thanks, kiddo." He rumbled, blinking blearily. He was never a morning person when he had a deep sleep.

After having a couple of cups of coffee, he was awake enough to read the headlines of the paper, which screamed about an explosion at an apartment block, with 'sources' within the BBPD confirming that it had been a cache of weapons belonging to the Archer's Bridge Merchants. There had been no fatalities and not one wounded 'miraculously' due to the abandoned state of the building.

"Jeez, these bastards must have had a lot of hardware stored up for that kind of effect." Dad said in disbelief as he looked at the picture of a massive hole in the side of the apartment building. "It says here that a sea mine was discovered three floors down…lucky that it was empty."

"Wait, a _sea mine_?" I asked with barely feigned disbelief. I still had no idea why they had one. For the internal explosives, maybe? "As in an _actual mine_ intended to sink ships?"

"Yup." My Dad confirmed, equally as baffled as I was. "Wonder where the heck they got one from? It isn't as if they're just lying around in junkyards."

Shrugging, I placed his breakfast in front of him and then grabbed my own. "So what's the plan for today?"

"I'm going to see about transferring you to Arcadia." Dad said grimly. "The PRT wants to meet me and Brandish today. As she predicted, they're way too underfunded to pay out and way too on the edge to suffer a media shit-storm like last time."

"Just…don't go too far, OK?" I asked with a sigh. "Sophia and her supervisor were the ones in the PRT that did the worst stuff and they're being punished for it. Like it or not, we need the PRT and Protectorate to handle the Capes in the gangs."

"I…understand." Dad said, very begrudgingly. "I don't like it, but…I understand. Also, I'm proud of you for being so mature about this."

I blushed. "Daaad!"

Seriously, did fathers practice how to embarrass their daughters as a hobby or something?! Jeez…

Until Dad was satisfied with my circumstances, I was not going anywhere near Winslow…not that I wanted to. The place was a building full of nightmares for me and if I ever had the chance to firebomb the place with impunity, I would gleefully take it.

…wow…I was _really_ pissed at Winslow, wasn't I?

Anyway, without school to occupy my time, I finished up all of my housework once Dad left before experimenting with the powers I had some more. Much to my delight, my intangibility was not weak against electricity like Sophia's was. Instead, I just couldn't phase whichever body part I had intangible through anything thicker than the average human torso. Whenever I tried, my intangibility shut down before it could pass through the surface.

I was uncertain about the exact thickness that stopped me from phasing through stuff, but Mom's old dressmaker's dummy was about the size of an average woman and it was something I could pass through. Maybe it was actually the density of the target? Or maybe its mass? I needed to do more testing.

I had stashed my ill-gotten gains in an empty house nearby; it was safe to do so, because the place had been abandoned since I had been eight and no one had ever come to even look at it in all that time. Before returning home, I had handled the guns, drawing more knowledge of how to use them with each touch until I discovered that, somehow, I could use my psychometry to 'see' through the barrels of the guns, meaning I could just stick my hand around a corner and fire accurately. It was a really, _really_ useful power to discover.

With my powers, I wasn't an Alexandria-type or Legend or even Eidolon. They were weak and not entirely useful a lot of the time, but that simply meant I'd have to fight smarter, not harder. Attacking weaknesses in the stances of others and taking advantage of opportunities offered by their resulting actions was how martial arts and self-defense worked, so I had to translate that to the gangs.

Capes aside, the three big gangs relied on firearms for the majority of their unpowered muscle, although that was more the Merchants and Empire than the ABB. The latter gang relied on the threat of Lung's wrath to keep any attacks on them to a minimum, instead preferring close combat weapons a lot of the time.

So, then. I had to deprive them of their weaponry, or at least force them to expend capital to replace what I stole or destroyed. Even although America gave all of its citizens of legal age the right to own guns, that didn't mean that they were by any means cheap, especially military grade firearms like assault rifles, and especially on the black market likely.

For a while, I could probably play it off as improper storage of materials, especially with the Merchants, but even _they_ would eventually twig to the fact that someone was playing a guerilla campaign against them. The Empire and ABB were not stupid by any means and would twig to it sooner. In that situation, directing them towards one another would _also_ be an idea, at least until they realised someone had manipulated them into _that_ as well. That would be the most dangerous part of the operation.

By then, I'd _have_ to have more skills and powers to have a chance against them. Stealth, determination and luck wouldn't last forever. Relying on it would be foolish to the highest degree.

As I cooked lunch and contemplated everything I'd come up with so far, my mind turned to something a bit more trivial, but also rather important…my Cape name. Every Cape needed one, and a fair few were restricted to one side of the hero/villain spectrum, such as Crimson, as the only one to bear that name had been a member of the infamous Slaughterhouse Nine.

In the Bay, there were also limits due to either the ethnic makeup or fascist beliefs of some of the groups. Any Asian names were a no-no thanks to Lung beating people who weren't Asian who took Asian Cape names. Any German, Norse or remotely Scandinavian names were a no-no thanks to the Empire 88. Street-slang names were a no-no too, thanks to the Merchants.

So yeah, there were limits. But I had an advantage; my mom had been an English Professor, and I had a whole host of books to draw upon, from _Huckleberry Finn_ , to the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ , to _Great Expectations_ and _A Tale of Two Cities_. Not to mention history books, because mom had liked to know the mythology behind the things she read.

By the time Dad pulled up outside, I had decided on a name. From Greek Mythology, I took the name…Mnemosyne. The name of the Titan Goddess of Memories, who gave birth to the Nine Muses of the Arts.

Dad came in looking tired, but triumphant. The PRT had made a number of concessions to reduce the amount of direct monetary compensation they'd have to pay. First, I'd start at Arcadia next month, while studying for the entry tests. Next, I'd get to visit the Wards Base and meet the Wards themselves. The PRT would also pay half of the bill for Arcadia, which was a biggie. Finally, they'd also pay a single lump sum.

The PRT Director, Emily Piggot, had also written me a letter, promising me that they were doing a complete overhaul of the way that the Wards were supervised to ensure what had happened to me would not happen to anyone else. She also thanked me for being mature about where I laid the blame for Sophia's actions.

What I was most excited about was the fact I was going to see the Wards. Vista, Clockblocker, Kid Win, Aegis, Gallant…and there was someone new, wasn't there? Anyway, if I could get my hands on their powers (literally) it would be way safer for me in the future.

I couldn't wait.

 **So, this got some good reviews when I posted the initial chapter. How does this one stack up by comparison? Oh, and a list of her powers and their ratings.**

 **\- Panacea's Biomonitoring power – Striker 2**

 **\- Shadow Stalker's partial intangibility – Breaker 2**

 **\- Miss Militia's weapon creation ability – Shaker 2 (Sub-rating Striker 1)**


	111. It's Time to Duel! Chapter 3

**It's Time to Duel! Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 51)**

 _A Few Minutes Earlier_

 _With Velocity, Northern Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

" _Console to Velocity, come in, over._ " Clockblocker called. He was on console duty (again) because of his constant needling of people.

"This is Velocity." The speedster hero said, stopping at a corner. "Go ahead, Console."

" _Got a call in from what is apparently a new Indie Cape called Duelist, said she captured some Merchants._ " The Striker reported. " _The location's in the Mid-Docks area, Benson and Third. The PRT Helpline lady said that it might be a prank._ "

"Roger that, Console. I'm on route." Velocity replied. The red-clad speedster zipped down the street towards the location that Clockblocker had informed him of.

' _A new Indie, huh? You can bet the Director'll be wanting to recruit them if they're decent._ ' He thought. It was something that he approved of, personally. Independent Capes rarely lasted long alone. He had formerly been in the military and had approved of the way the Protectorate was set up. Why people didn't go to the PRT first when they got powers was something he found odd.

' _Some like the idea of being superheroes like in the old comics_.' Velocity grimaced. ' _The world isn't like the comics though. It's ready to chew you up and spit you out if you let your guard down._ '

Just then, he came up on the location he had been given and came to a halt. Arrayed before him were humanoids that he recognised from that card game that the Wards (and more than a few PRT and Protectorate members) played in their spare time. One was a tall, heavily muscled man, totally naked except for a loincloth and the sword he carried easily in one hand. The second was a blond-haired woman wearing red and black armour with a card suite theme and another sword in hand. Emerging from the warehouse was a man wearing blue armour and carrying a double-bladed pike. Standing in the center of all of them was a person wearing a large white coat, a full-face helmet shaped like a dragon's head, a red shirt, black trousers and black boots.

"Whoa…" he blurted out unconsciously. That made the three closest individuals turn to face him, the large man and the knight-like woman automatically moving to protectively loom over the white-clad figure.

"Umm…" Velocity said intelligently. "Who's Duelist?"

"Me." The white clad figure said in a, stepping forwards. He had guessed based on the body language of the other people around them that the white-clad figure was Duelist, but it was surprising that they were female.

"Okaaaayyy…" the red-clad hero took a breath and let it out. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be a long story?"

It wasn't, really. The kid, Duelist, had the power to summon Yu-Gi-Oh cards as projections, as well as increase and otherwise alter their abilities with the magic and trap cards she had available. Using the power of [Gearfried the Swordmaster], she had destroyed Squealer's tank before having her knocked out. Before that had happened, her projections had taken down the entire warehouse full of Merchants with not wounds and no casualties on either side.

Velocity even saw her call forth another servant, one he recognised as [Armed Ninja], to strip the place of any money and valuables before the new Cape chose to leave. He tried to offer her a place in the Wards, but she turned him down fast.

"With my monsters at my side, I'm fine." She replied firmly. "I'll be able to do more by myself rather than be weighed down by the silly coddling that you put the Wards through; I actually want to _accomplish things_ before I hit eighteen, you know."

Barely twenty minutes later, Velocity found himself reporting to Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Director Piggot in the Director's Office.

"Duelist…a nickname for those who play that card game, I suppose?" the Director sniffed.

"Quite a fitting name though, much better thought out than most fresh Capes." Miss Militia pointed out.

"True." Emily Piggot allowed. "Armsmaster, presuming that she is able to manifest every single card that exists, are there any that may prove to be of use against the Endbringers?"

"At least three dozen and counting, not including various card combinations." The Tinker replied. "Dragon's helping me do so as we speak. The fact that we don't know the limits of her power makes this list little more than speculation, however."

"Quite, but she would be a major force multiplier if we were forced to deploy her in an emergency situation." Piggot mused before shaking her head. "She doesn't want to join up? Fine. All Protectorate and Wards members are instructed to keep an eye out for Duelist and build a rapport with her, in addition to observing her for any indications of any lawbreaking."

Miss Militia threw her a disapproving look, but the obese woman brushed it off with ease.

"She is too powerful to remain a free agent, Militia." Piggot stated. "It is only a matter of time before the Empire or the ABB gets it into their heads to attack her in order to forcibly recruit her. Failing that, the ABB at least will try to remove her as an obstacle. With Oni Lee and Lung after her, she won't last a week."

"She's only gone after the Merchants a single time, ma'am." Velocity pointed out.

"Yes, which is troublesome." Piggot said with a frown. "If she continues to go after the Merchants, the power balance of the Big Three Gangs will be destabilized; the Merchants are good for nothing else if not acting as a deterrent against all-out gang warfare. If they go, the other two will be at each other's throats very quickly, and Brockton Bay will be a warzone."

"Director…it's only a matter of time before that happens anyway." Miss Militia pointed out softly. "There's only so much we can do with the current lineup and numbers of the Protectorate and Wards, even with the PRT backing us."

"It is our job to prevent it as long as is possible." The Director said firmly. "It has worked for years and I will not see Brocton Bay fall because of one idealistic Parahuman on a crusade."

What was very carefully _not_ mentioned by Armsmaster, Miss Militia and the Director was that they were all 100% certain that they were being set up for something beyond a gang war. They had no idea what that might be, but the state of Brockton Bay would have demanded at least double the amount of Protectorate members and a substantially larger PRT deployment.

Instead, what they had was the absolute lowest, cut to the bone, number of Protectorate necessary, along with only a slightly larger than normal deployment of the PRT. This forced them to resort to merely checking the excesses of the various Parahuman criminals that existed in Brockton bay, rather than cracking down on them a bit as Piggot would prefer.

Shaking her head, Piggot returned to the matter at hand. "As it is, we have Squealer in custody thanks to Duelist and I want her out of the Bay as fast as transport can be arranged. Once she gets to a prison, Panacea can be brought in to wipe her clean of drugs and perhaps she can be convinced to rebrand. That isn't my problem though; that would be Alexandria's demesne."

Alexandria had a Thinker power that granted her a nigh-perfect memory and an almost inhuman ability to read someone's tells. More often than not, she was responsible for interrogating and convincing captured Parahuman criminals into turning a new leaf.

"If there's nothing else, you are all dismissed." The Director said, wincing as her body protested. "I have an appointment with my dialysis machine."

 _Next Day_

 _With Taylor_

It was after school, after I had finished my homework, when I looked between my trusty Warrior deck and my Spellcaster deck indecisively. I wanted to give all of my decks a fair go, but I was also reluctant to just exchange decks so easily.

I had a lot of cards that I had bought won in a couple of tournaments over the years and I had amused myself by building decks for most of the various monster types. I didn't bother with making different attribute decks, but I was rather good at building cohesive decks based on monster types. I also had a few archetype-based decks as well, but I specialised in the various types, Warrior, Spellcaster, Reptile, etcetera.

Shrugging, I grabbed my spellcasters and absorbed the deck into me, which made the first five cards automatically draw. [White Magician Pikeru], [Book of Secret Arts], [Magician's Circle], [Dark Magician Girl] and [Mystic Elf], huh…I drew my first new card, which was [Maha Vailo].

As for my disguise, I chose [Avatar of Nephthys], although I wouldn't be engaging it until after I'd left my house; it was too…elaborate, with cloth going everywhere , not to mention the big headdress the figure in the card wore.

Why that card? Simply, really; even although I was fairly flat chested, I was still a bit larger in the chest department than the male figure of [Kaibaman], which had made his disguise a bit on the sore side. So I'd try to wear disguises from now on that took the fact I was female into account.

…OK, _and_ I wanted to experiment to see if I had any of their powers while wearing their outfits. Sue me.

I waited until dark to sneak out. Dad had gone to bed and I had some practice in sneaking out recently to test out my powers and now to patrol for crimes. Inserting my disguise came first, once I was sure there were no security cameras around, then I summoned [Maha Vailo].

The tall man in a blue robe, wearing an elaborate backpack with two large ornamental blades sticking up over his shoulders, as well as an elaborate headdress, appeared in front of me in a flash of light.

"Mistress, I am at your command." He stated with an abbreviated bow.

I let out a small sigh of relief; it looks as if any monster I summon is loyal to me, not just the Warriors.

"We're on patrol for lawbreakers." I informed him. "No killing or maiming is allowed by the laws of the land, so restrain your power."

"Yes, Mistress." [Maha Vailo] nodded obediently.

Before we started to patrol, I set [Magician's Circle] facedown, causing a rainbow array of light to play over my body. It was a pretty weird feeling too; kinda like an electric charge was running across my skin while it was active.

I would have preferred a proper defensive trap, but in a pinch, I could summon reinforcements from my deck. I didn't know what would happen if my enemies were classed by my power as 'spellcasters' as well though…would it call one of their Capes forth? Would it summon a token? Or would it be like if the enemy had a deck with no spellcasters? The only way to find out was experimentation, which was risky. It couldn't be helped though; it's not like my powers came with a rulebook like the card game did.

Equipping the [Book of Secret Arts] to myself, I utilized the secondary powers that I had found that I gained while it was equipped to me; not only could I attack and defend with it, I also gained minor 'spells' from it like basic levitation and flight, as well as other things a 'normal' magician had naturally. Joining my monster in the air, we soared across the night.

"This city has seen better days, Mistress." Maha said softly as he gazed at Brockton Bay. "I can almost feel its pain."

"Yeah…we have to fight to return it to those days." I said determinedly, even as I spotted twenty gang members from the E88 fighting with the same number of ABB. "Here's our first group. None of these guys should be stronger than a [Cyber Commander], with most being barely stronger than a [Kuriboh]. Remember to restrain your attacks accordingly."

"That shall be difficult, but not impossible." The Spellcaster frowned for a moment. Before pointing one hand at the group of gang members. " **[Sacred Lightning]!** "

A single bolt of energy shot out of his hands and spread to cover the entire group, shocking them and even dropping a handful, but the rest were, if not unharmed, then still conscious.

"Hmm…It looks as if the ones we face this time are slightly superior to what you faced before, Mistress." [Maha Vailo] said with a slight smile. "That was me restraining my **[Sacred Lightning]** to the equivalent of 500 Attack Points."

"Cape!" one of the E88 skinheads yelled. Way to state the obvious.

I tapped my deck again and another card was drawn, [White Magical Hat]. I think he would make an excellent addition to this fight.

"Come forth, [White Magical Hat]!" I called out, summoning the monster. In a flash, a man wearing a purple suit, white gloves, cape and hat, with a monocle over one eye, floated in the sky before me.

"Mistress, I am at your command." The thief bowed to me.

"Go down there and take care of those men who are gaping at us." I ordered, pointing down at the ABB and E88 members. "Remember to hold back; they are stronger than 500 Attack Points, but likely weaker than you are by far and we are not permitted to kill."

"By your command." [White Magical Hat] stated and, grabbing his cloak, he wrapped it around himself, and vanished from sight, although I could still tell where he was, somehow.

"Shit, that Cape's a Master!"

"What should we do? We don't have any guns!"

"We _run_ , you dumbass! Leave these slants to get beaten up!"

I rolled my eyes at the common racial slur that the Empire grunts used. Couldn't they come up with anything more original than that? Well, they _are_ racist fucks, after all, so they likely don't have much resembling imagination.

Before either side could move, [White Magical Hat] reappeared and laid into them with his fists, beating them down rather easily, starting with the one who had said they were going to run. I was getting surprisingly frustrated with myself, as I had no way of gauging the strength of people so I could direct my monsters properly.

Abruptly, my vision cut out for a moment before springing back up seconds later…only _now_ , I could see people's Attack/Defense Points, as well as what 'magic cards' they were 'equipped' with.

 **[Empire Footsoldier]**

 _ **A man lost on the path of hatred based on race and skin colour. Redemption is possible, but not at this time.**_

 **{Warrior/Normal Monster}**

– **Attack 650/Defense 500 (Equipped with [Old Iron Pipe]: +150 Attack Points)**

 **[ABB Footsoldier]**

 _ **A footsoldier of a Pan-Asian gang. His worship of a mighty dragon from both fear and respect gives him courage in the face of adversity.**_

 **{Warrior/Normal Monster}**

– **Attack 850/Defense 600 (Equipped with [Replica Katana]: +250 Attack Points)**

Those were the strongest members of the two groups of criminals down there and I had to sigh. Seriously? Only now, when I _asked_ for it, did I gain the ability to see relative Attack and Defense values, as well as equip cards…and holy shit, is that _flavor text_?!

From what I can see, the Attack and Defense values for the ABB are all about 600, while the E88 were hovering around the 500-550 range. The unconscious ones were all in the 400's.

It actually made sense, as the Empire made extensive use of firearms, so their grunts were less well trained physically than the ABB, who tended to favour close combat when possible. Plus, they had more than a couple of martial artists (yes, it was stereotypical, but whatever) in their ranks, so their higher base stats made sense.

It kinda made me wonder about what the villains and heroes would look like…

Once [White Magical Hat] finished beating the morons into unconsciousness, [Maha Vailo] conjured ropes to tie them up and we left them bound outside the police station. As we flew away, the phantom thief handed me all of their money, which was really useful. His sleight of hand skills were incredible; I had only seen him punching the gang members, not pilfering their cash!

"Well that was an excellent test." I said as I stored the money in a little pouch on my costume's belt. "Let's go hunting for more criminals."

"Yes, Mistress!" my monsters chorused and we swooped away into the night.

 **A short update this time, because there's one snippet that I've been dying to write and I can't shake it. Look forward to it in a few days' time…**


	112. Worm: The Rise of Skitter

**Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 1**

 _Somewhere_

 _Somewhen_

"What the fuck!" Lisa yelped. One moment, she had been about to log on to her computer in a vain attempt to convince people that her friend, Taylor Hebert, better known as Khepri these days, was a hero, and the next, she was landing on the ground here…wherever 'here' was.

'Here' was a white room about the size of a goddamn cathedral and it was eye-searing white. What was more concerning was that her Thinker powers couldn't get anything from it aside from throwing up a large question mark.

"What the shit?!" a familiar voice yelped nearby. Lisa looked around and saw Imp, Aisha LaBorne, sitting up and rubbing her abused posterior.

"Imp?" Lisa said in surprise.

"What the…Tattletale?" the black girl blinked in surprise. "What the hell's going on?"

"Wish I knew; I arrived here first, then you seconds after me." The Thinker replied.

"Who the hell grabbed me?!" another familiar voice snarled as their figure appeared in the white space.

"Bitch?!" Imp and Lisa chorused in shock.

Bitch, otherwise known as Rachael Lindt, narrowed her eyes at the other two girls. "Were you two the ones who grabbed me?!"

"Nope. We were grabbed too." Tattletale shook her head. "Where were you? Gimel?"

Bitch gave a grunt of assent.

Over the next few minutes, various people were 'teleported' in, people that they all knew; Panacea, Glory Girl, Laserdream, Brandish, Defiant/Armsmaster, Dragon, Vista, Foil, Parian and Shadow Stalker.

The tension between Glory Girl, Brandish and Panacea was almost tangible, the same applying to the former Wards and Vista, who had stayed loyal. One commonality was that all of their powers were negated completely. Brandish couldn't create her light constructs, Glory Girl's Aura was not active and even Defiant and Dragon's Tinker abilities were gone.

"So who the hell grabbed us?" Victoria Dallon snapped, eying the 'sister' who had essentially turned her into a vegetable.

"No clue." Tattletale shrugged. "Probably some fresh Trigger who wants to show off…you're listening, right?"

 **Ah, Tattletale. Your need to show off is quite amusing.**

Everyone looked around at the sudden voice.

"Who is there?! Show yourself!" Brandish demanded, looking around angrily.

 **Brandish, in case it had escaped your notice, you are in no position to demand** _ **anything**_ **of me. You, like everyone** _ **else**_ **here, are completely disempowered while in this location, and I have disabled Dragon's on-board weaponry, as well as 'Defiant' and** _ **his**_ **weaponry, and activated several strength governors that restrict her body to the strength of an average woman.**

"He has." Dragon confirmed with a glower.

"Well since you took the opportunity to capture all of us, might I ask exactly what it is you intend to do with us?" Tattletale asked with a sigh. She only just realised that she was wearing her supervillain costume, as was Imp, Parian, Bitch and Foil.

 **Observe the side of the room to your left, Tattletale.**

Turning to look, everyone blinked as a large screen appeared out of the floor, followed by several sofas and chairs. Immediately in front of the screen was a square box and controller, with another seat in front of it.

"You aren't serious." Vista scoffed in disbelief. "You brought us here to play a _game?!_ "

 **Not just** _ **any**_ **game, Vista. A game about the life of someone who you all know…someone who gave all she was to defeat an enemy that no one could have defeated otherwise.**

"Taylor? This game is about _Taylor_?" Tattletale asked in shock.

"Why would we want to know what _Hebert_ did?" Shadow Stalker sneered. She was then hit by a watermelon dropping on her head, making her curse loudly.

 **That's enough out of you, the one who tortured Taylor Hebert into Triggering in the first place. And for future reference, either use her civilian name or call her Skitter. Neither Weaver nor Khepri were things she wanted to be, so respect who she was at her best, if you please.**

 **Tattletale, take the seat in front of the console. None of you can leave until this game is played, escape is impossible and no one can find you here. Play along and you may discover information that you need.**

"We can't just keep calling you 'The Disembodied Voice' all the time." Lisa said, not moving. "A name first, then I'll play along."

 **Very well. I am the one who sees all, SeerKing. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, one and all.**

"SeerKing, huh?" the disempowered Thinker raised an eyebrow. "OK then. I guess I'll play along, for now, but we _will_ find a way to break out. And if this is going to insult Taylor any more than she has been already by everyone and their grandmother…!"

 **Taylor always did think of you as her friend, Tattletale and it is nice to see that she was not mistaken in that judgement. Have no fear; this will simply show the truth, pure and unadulterated. Nothing more, nothing less.**

Scoffing slightly, Tattletale walked over to the console, with everyone else trailing after her.

"I'm not certain that this is a wise course of action." Defiant demurred.

"Unless you have any awe-inspiring ideas about what else to do, Dumbass, I can't see as to what choice we have." Imp sneered at him. "We're powerless, disarmed and in the lair of this SeerKing guy. He could fuck us up if he wanted to and we'd be able to do jack all to stop him."

"Going along with what our kidnapper demands is a bit stupid though." Vista frowned.

"As much as it pains me to admit, Tattletale and Imp are right." Dragon admitted. "We're completely helpless here. The sooner that we get this 'game' over and done with, the sooner we can, perhaps, return to our lives."

"Why grab me though?" Victoria mused. "I mean, it's not like I really get along with most people here."

She glared at Panacea and Tattletale as if to leave no doubts about who she was talking about.

"It ain't like we like you either, Collateral Damage Barbie." Imp snarked.

 **Break it up you two. And Glory Girl, what happened to you was an unfortunate incident, but one that** **you** **triggered by ignoring what Panacea said. She specifically warned you,** _ **begged**_ **you even, to stay** _ **away**_ **from her and** _ **not**_ **to touch her. The pressure from an unimaginable amount of stress and the Shaper Shard were close to overwhelming her, but she was able to hold them off so long as temptation wasn't at hand. You were simply the straw that broke the camel's back and you were at Ground Zero. No one is to blame…well, I personally blame your** _ **mother**_ **for not loving her as much as she could have, Lady Photon for and the rest of New Wave for not noticing something was amiss and a bit on you for believing that she was immune to your aura.**

 **As to why I chose you…well, I decided that seeing things from another perspective was what you needed.**

Stunned into silence, Glory Girl walked over to sulk on a chair. Brandish, Laserdream and even Panacea were also stunned. Tattletale, however, simply shrugged and sat at the seat SeerKing had indicated she take.

"So now what?" the Thinker asked.

 **There's a switch on the console. Simply press it and the console'll turn on. Then just sit back and play the game. It's linear, just so you know, so there isn't any option for you to do anything that Taylor herself didn't do, but the mechanics have been altered to allow for something different than a Visual Novel experience.**

"A what?"

 **Sorry, a genre from a different Earth. One where there were no Endbringers or Parahuman powers. Or any way for Zion to go there, at all.**

Shrugging, Lisa pressed the only button on the console, making lines on it light up and shine in the shape of an insect.

On the screen above them, _a familiar mask appeared; that of Skitter, of Khepri. The camera panned out to show that she was lying on her back, on dusty ground. One of her arms was gone and her costume was covered in blood, dirt and gore. Then she woke up._

" _Haah…haaah…" the figure of Khepri panted, the noises coming from the speakers showing that her throat was rough, and dry. Slowly, painfully, the Enslaver of Earth Bet staggered to her knees, and then froze at the sound of a gun being cocked. Looking up, she saw a figure in a white dress shirt and suit pants sitting on a rock, one leg crossed over the other. Held in one hand was a weapon…a revolver. A fedora sat on her head at a jaunty angle. Her mouth was moving, saying something._

"Who the…?" Foil frowned.

"Contessa!" Tattletale snarled. Then words appeared on the screen.

 **{** _ **Press the central pad to allow Khepri to decipher what is being said to her.**_ **}**

Frowning, Lisa picked up the controller and eyed it. It had four buttons on either side of it, and one large button in the center, which was the one she was being told to press, so she did so.

 _The noises that the woman behind her was saying became understandable somehow._

" _You knew it would come to this." Contessa said. "You don't remember me, but if you don't look too hard, you'll be able to tap into vague recollections of who and what I am. You should know I have you in checkmate. There are no loopholes, no tricks, no ways out."_

"Bitch."

 _Images appeared on the screen, vague flashes of facing this woman before and failing. Nothing concrete, but a vague idea given that Khepri, here and now, was outclassed._

" _Water? If you speak, I'll understand."_

 **{** _ **Press '**_ **X** _ **' to reply.**_ **}**

Automatically, Tattletale pressed the button.

" _Yes." Khepri rasped out, her voice not actually saying the words. Instead an almost unintelligible cacophony of sounds emerged._

"I…did that to her…!" Panacea sounded horrified.

 _With a negligent toss, Contessa threw a thermos of water to the ground in front of Khepri._

 **{ _Press the Square button_** ** _to let Khepri drink._ }**

 _Grabbing the flask, Khepri pushed her mask up to drink greedily at Lisa's button press._

" _What you are, you know you can't be allowed to carry on. You don't quite remember, but you've dealt with some who were like you. The Echidna, the Faerie Queen. You saw the Ash Beast."_

 _Flashes of each person the woman spoke of flashed across the screen._

" _Hearing the two… first two names makes me feel… shadows of feelings." The masked figure said haltingly, as if was a struggle to speak, at Lisa's prompting._

" _I imagine so," she said. "We walked very similar roads. We've done ugly things for a greater good."_

"Do not even fucking _go there_ , you bitch." Tattletale growled.

 _After a couple of false starts, Khepri spoke again. "You still do ug-ly things. I saw you with T-teacher. You work with him now. As before, still do now."_

"Well that explains a lot." Dragon muttered.

" _I'm not so sure." Contessa said. "There's less of a mission, now. I have no cause anymore, and I hope that means I don't lose sight of the little things."_

 _She added, after a moment, "I'm thinking I'll try to do some things without any help, in the future."_

 _Khepri just looked down at her knees and breathed._

" _I keep on asking myself the same questions over and over again," the Cauldron Thinker said. "Maybe you can answer. Was it worth it?_ _Would you do it all over again? Knowing what you know now? Knowing that you end up here, at gunpoint?"_

The crowd of Earth-Bet Parahumans leaned forwards in anticipation as Lisa pressed the correct button to let them hear her friend's reply.

" _I… know I'm supposed to say yes," Khepri forced out. "But no. Some-somewhere along way, it became no."_

" _Just about everyone comes to this crossroad," Contessa said. "Some get seventy years, some only get fifteen. Enough time to grow, to take stock of who you are. Enough time to do things you'll regret when you run out of time."_

" _Don't- don't regret it. Was- had to. Saved lives. But I would do different, given a chance."_

"Oh, Taylor." Lisa almost cried at that. It was so, so, so, _so_ much like her. Always trying to be a _goddamned_ hero.

"Is she for freaking real?!" Glory Girl shook her head in disbelief.

"That's Taylor for ya." Imp shook her head.

 _Onscreen, Contessa actually smiled and nodded. "It's always about the people, isn't it?"_

 _Khepri choked out an accusation at her conversation partner. "Protect some, pay less attention to others."_

 _The smile became sadder. "Can't bet on the wrong horse."_

" _Giving too much power to wrong people." Khepri_ _forcefully corrected her. "To bullies. With powers, bullies without."_

 _The Thinker actually looked surprised at Khepri's words. "I don't see that applying to Scion."_

" _Doesn't." Khepri answered._

" _He doesn't factor? He isn't a consideration, at the end?"_

" _Fighting him… always more about_ us _than about_ him _. Not a consideration." the Slayer of the Golden Man informed her._

" _And the person who played the biggest role in stopping him doesn't give him a second thought." Contessa said, her expression complicated and a note of emotion in her voice. Her hand holding the revolver was white-knuckled with how tightly she was holding it._

 _The conversation continued, with the Cauldron Cape informing her about the Fairy Queen and the role that Khepri played in her getting amnesty…and inspiring Glaistig Uaine to do something 'honest'._

 _Then the last question came._

" _Were you_ _honest enough to inspire that?_ _It's… probably the most important question I'm going to ask you tonight." Contessa said._ _"I think you have the capacity to answer. You're more lucid than you were."_

" _Talking…talking helps." Khepri admitted._

" _That's part of why I'm asking, Taylor Hebert. Weaver, Skitter, Khepri, I'm thinking you're not totally gone. Glaistig Uaine told you to hold on to an anchor. The other ones, the little ones? They might have gotten you through the events, given you the strength from moment to moment. But you had something bigger. Something more fundamental, which was there before the battle even began._ _Were you really a monster in the end? A warlord, an alien administrator? A vicious killer with a cruel streak, mutilating your enemies and secretly enjoying it? A bully, if you forgive me for using that word?"_

"She was _not_ a bully, you fedora-wearing bitch tornado!" Tattletale growled. "She had a low tier power and made it capable of taking down those many times stronger than herself, and that makes her a _bully?!_ Fuck. You!"

"She _was_ ruthless. Look at what she did to Clockblocker during the Brockton Bay Central Bank Heist. Look at what she did to Triumph." Glory Girl pointed out.

"When someone possesses weak powers, the only choices you have are either to not to step onto the battlefield at all, or to use your power ruthlessly and without hesitation." Parian spoke up sadly. "I chose the former…and Taylor the latter. She didn't have the luxury of being all but invulnerable or firing beams or what have you; she had control of insects, arthropods. Without using what she had to the best of her capabilities, she wouldn't even be able to be a second-stringer on the Wards. As it is…well, look at what she accomplished. She was more heroic as a villain than most heroes in the Protectorate were. Especially the Cauldron capes."

" _Or were you really a hero? Do the good intentions win out? Was it Glaistig Uaine's strength or yours, that held her back from saving Scion in those final moments?"_

" _Why…does it matter?" Khepri asked. The soft sound of footfalls could be heard as Contessa made her way around her._

" _Because I think you have a chance to come back from this. Not much of a chance. Part of that rides on me. I could help you, or I could stop you from troubling anyone ever again. Part of that? It's up to you to win the fight, to take control and keep the administrator from claiming everything you have, leaving you a shell."_

 **I can't reply. I don't deserve to, anyway.**

The voice was Taylor's, soft, sad and resigned. Tattletale's voice caught in her throat as she realised _exactly_ where this was going.

" _It's OK. I got the answer, myself." Contessa said softly. The camera panned away from Khepri's view and to the kneeling figure of Khepri, as she looked up into the sky, at the stars that had appeared while the two women had conversed._

 **So many stars. The universe so vast.**

 **We're s-so very small, in the end.**

 _Then the camera moved out again until both Khepri and Contessa were visible…with the Wielder of the Path to Victory levelling her revolver at the back of Khepri's head._

 _The screen went black as first one, and then another, shot was fired._

"Fucking Contessa!" Tattletale growled as tears fell from her eyes.

"That…that was ruthless…" Panacea shook her head in dismay. She hadn't liked Taylor Hebert much, for her actions as both Skitter and Khepri, but to die like that was…

 _On the screen the darkness became a tide of insects that moved away, revealing a banner with five words on it._

 **Worm**

 **The Rise of Skitter**

 **(Please Press X to Continue)**

Lisa put the controller down as a prompt asked her to press 'X' again to continue.

"So…that's how Khepri…no, _Taylor Hebert_ died." Dragon sighed. "Poor girl. Presuming that this is in any way accurate, Contessa killed her in order to prevent her from becoming an S-Class Parahuman like Echidna or Ash Beast. Or even like a worse version of The Sleeper."

"She…did what she had to do, didn't she?" Vista asked with a pained look on her face. "If she hadn't controlled us, we would never have won against Scion. All Earths would have been destroyed."

"We don't know that." Stalker grumbled.

"With the inability to trust or cooperate with each other, each world's Parahumans would have had less than a percent's chance of defeating Scion." Defiant said in the silence following that, as people glared at Stalker. "With all of us, willing or not, under Skitter's control, she was able to use us to defeat Scion. She did, as SeerKing informed us, do what no one else could have done. All models Dragon and I have run agree with the facts."

 **I am sorry that you had to see that. It was unfortunately put in to stir up a sense of drama or some such nonsense.**

"So, you didn't make this?" Tattletale looked up and frowned.

 **Not in the slightest. I am merely the Agent allowing you to see it. You should continue. It will only get harder before it becomes easier.**

"Fine." The Thinker picked up the controller and pressed 'X' with her thumb.

 **So…surprise? Yeah, two updates in one day is a bit odd for me. Still, this is something that I've wanted to write for a while: a Game fic that basically follows the events of Worm and the various characters' reactions to it. This had a lot of text from Speck 30.7, but this'll be the only chapter that does that to a large degree. Depending on the reactions to this chapter, I may post another one at some point.**


	113. Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 2

**Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 112)**

When Lisa pressed the 'X' button, the screen went black for a moment before it was covered in a white-outlined bug symbol that flashed on and off, obviously some kind of loading screen.

Then it cleared.

 _Appearing on the screen was a picture of the planet Earth that then multiplied and split into countless duplicates that stretched into the horizon. Then a familiar fedora-wearing woman's voice spoke up._

 **The multiverse. Infinite alternate versions of Earth and the other planets of the universe. Any possible reality that** _ **can**_ **possibly exist,** _ **does**_ **.**

"Sheesh, she's being more cryptic than before." Vista remarked.

 _Suddenly, the camera panned over a countless number of Earths before coming to rest on one in particular, with the rest fading away. Then, Taylor Hebert's voice spoke up._

 **This is Earth Bet. On this particular version of Earth, in 1982, an** _ **amazing**_ **thing happened. The advent of the world's first actual superhero…**

 _The image on the screen zoomed in until it showed the sight of a golden man flying across the sea, away from a boat._

… **Scion. After this, the advent of Parahumans came upon us, not only on Earth Bet, but in Earth Aleph and other alternate worlds. The future looked pretty bright, or so I'm told.**

"…why is she giving us a history lesson?" Imp asked blankly. "More than that, one that we _know_ is wrong?"

 **That would be because the game presumes that anyone playing it is not in the know about the Golden Morning. Even then, you have to know the false or incorrect history for the truth to have any meaning. Context, when spoken simply.**

 _The scene on screen showed four very familiar figures hovering in front of a rising sun. Taylor continued her lecture._

 **The greatest of the heroes to rise were a team that would later come to be known as the Triumvirate once other events came to pass. Alexandria, the indestructible flying heroine; Legend, a man capable of firing impossibly powerful beams; Hero, the most famous inventor of parahuman tech that existed; and Eidolon, the man with interchangeable powers.**

 **Sadly…with the light, comes the darkness.**

 _The image of a costumed man being clubbed over the head flashed across the screen._

 **The so-called 'Golden Age of Parahumans' came to an end with the violent death of the first parahuman besides Scion, Vikare, in a riot in Michigan, in 1989. His real name was Andrew Hawke.**

 **Even before the death of Vikare, things had been getting darker. The Slaughterhouse Nine, a group founded by the Parahuman called King, was brutally taken over by Jack Slash in 1987. With the death of the Second Parahuman, though, things went from bad to worse.**

 _The scene changed to that of a dry, sparse mesa…and a chillingly familiar sight rampaging across it._

"Fuck! Behemoth!" Lisa cursed, taken aback by the sudden appearance of the hero-Killing Endbringer.

 **In 1992, on December the 13** **th** **, the First Endbringer, initially known as Hadhayosh, appeared in the Khuzestan Province of Iran, near the Marun Oil Fields. Although all four members of the Proto-Triumvirate were present, they had only been present for earthquake relief. The fight was ultimately a draw, with several local heroes being slain. The year after, the Triumvirate were sworn in as founding members of the American Protectorate.**

 _The screen shifted, showing another large, familiar figure rampaging through a large coastal city._

 **The Second Endbringer, called Jörmungandr initially, struck at Oslo on June the 9** **th** **, 1996. With Hadhayosh being the only one to attack thusfar, the defenders were caught off guard and great damage was done to both the city and its populace.**

"Understatement if ever I've heard it." Defiant muttered. Dragon placed one hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

 _The screen shifted once again, this time showing three of the Triumvirate gathered around the bloody and shattered body of Hero._

 **In the year 2000, the Slaughterhouse Nine fought against the Triumvirate, resulting in The Siberian killing Hero and destroying one of Alexandria's eyes. The Triumvirate splintered with Hero's death, never to be truly united again.**

"That makes it sound as if Hero was the one keeping the Triumvirate together." Parian mused.

"It isn't uncommon in social groups, as well as superhero/villain teams, for there to be one or more person to act as the glue keeping the group together." Tattletale replied. "Hero's death probably affected the Triumvirate badly, Eidolon and Alexandria especially."

"God damned Manton." Brandish growled, cursing the man who had projected the Siberian.

 _The screen changed again, showing an angelic, multi-winged female floating over a city._

 **The Third Endbringer, initially called Israfel and Ulama, appeared over the capital city of Switzerland, Lausanne, in December of 2002. Corrupting the entire populace and necessitating the deaths of every man, woman and child in the city. One man who was a part of this operation was James Tagg of the Parahuman Response Team.**

"Is it me, or did Taylor's voice sound pissed when she said that bastard's name?" Tattletale mused as she eyed the image of the Simurgh warily.

"Probably. The guy was an ass." Imp snorted, with Bitch snorting in agreement.

 **Soon, the Endbringers came to be known by their more common names…Behemoth, Leviathan and Simurgh. Both individually and together, these three bringers of destruction did what nothing else could; forged agreements between Heroes and Villains. The Endbringer Truce, which basically halted all criminal activity and fighting across the globe during an Endbringer Attack, was established. In every battle, the heroes and villains of the world banded together and fought them with everything they had…**

… **it wasn't enough.**

 _The scene changed to a familiar cityscape, one that all of those present were familiar with._

 **This is Brockton Bay, my home. In the aftermath of Leviathan, sea trade had shrunk to a trickle. Losing its lifeblood, the city started to degenerate into the form I know today.**

 _Images of the flags of the three big gangs of the Bay appeared on screen. Each coming forwards as Taylor talked about them._

 **In the Bay, the Empire Eighty-Eight, the Azn Bad Boyz and the Archer's Bridge Merchants rule the underbelly. Neo-Nazis, Pan-Asian Supremacists and drug-addled drug sellers. There were more Capes in the three gangs than in the local branch of the Protectorate, even with the backing of the Protectorate Wards and local PRT.**

 **Between the infighting of the gangs, the Cape battles between the gangs and the Protectorate and the slow, inexorable death by inches that the city was going through, the everyman on the street struggled to keep their heads above the water.**

"I know it was bad when I arrived, but…was it _really_ as bad as Kh-…as _Taylor_ is making it out to have been?" The former Ward Foil asked.

"Yup." Tattletale answered before the native Brocktonites could. "Everyone here was mostly either not in the Bay, had a steady job or went to Arcadia or Immaculata. Taylor went to Winslow, where wearing gang colours openly was the norm if you were a member. She saw the worst of the city there. She saw how bad it was."

"Hey." Glory Girl said, offended.

"It's not a reflection on the Protectorate or New Wave, considering the former was being deliberately left understaffed and undermined thanks to fucking Cauldron." Tattletale glowered at the screen. "Not to mention the need for strong Parahumans for the Endbringer Battles."

 _On the screen, a scene appeared on the screen, of Taylor, younger than the others were familiar with, dressed in a black dress, next to her father, Danny. They were standing, heads bowed, in front of a grave. The camera zoomed in to show the epitaph on the gravestone._

 _Annette Rose Hebert_

 _1969-2008_

 _She taught something precious to each of us._

 **My mother, Annette Rose Hebert, died in a car accident a year before I started highschool. My father, Daniel 'Danny' Hebert, loved her with everything that he was. He fell into a depression that he couldn't escape from. It took his old friend from college, Alan Barnes, to get him to even try to take care of me, but sometimes he couldn't.**

 **As for me…I was…** _ **surviving**_ **, for lack of a better word. My mom's death had torn a hole in our family, leaving two devastated people behind. We stopped using mobile phones, because mom had died while texting. It was stressful, and I withdrew and became quiet as a result.**

"By the sounds of it, her mother was similar to Hero in that she was a stabilizing influence on her husband and daughter." Brandish observed.

"Taylor once described her mother as a physical presence in a room." Tattletale sighed. "Her personality filled the room and told those in it exactly how she felt. Taylor really loved her a lot."

Shadow Stalker eyed the screen, a little part of her with her survival instinct telling her that she was not going to enjoy what was about to come.

 **I went off to Summer Camp after graduating from Middle School. When I came back…my personal hell started.**

 _The screen changed to show three figures standing in a run-down school corridor. One was Shadow Stalker…or rather, Sophia Hess. The other two were teenage girls as well. One was a redhead wearing fashionable clothes, while the other was a cute-looking brunette, who looked to be a late bloomer._

 **Emma Barnes, my childhood friend, had changed a great deal in the few weeks I'd spent away at Camp. She rejected our friendship and started hanging out with a girl called Sophia Hess…a name I would soon come to curse.**

Everyone _stared_ at Shadow Stalker. The two original Undersiders with disdain and dislike, while Imp, Parian and Foil looked suspicious. Everyone knew the tale of how Taylor Hebert had been tortured into Triggering by Shadow Stalker; it looked as if they were going to hear the general details now.

"You're fucked, Psycho Stalker." Tattletale said flatly. "Just hope you know that."

"Fuck you, bitch." The former vigilante and former Ward snapped at her.

 **I had a full academic scholarship to Arcadia, but I had turned it down in order to go to Winslow with Emma before going to Summer Camp. That is a decision that I would come to regret. For about a month after school started, things were normal…but then the bullying started.**

 **Each of who I called The Trio had a role to play; Madison Clements, a cutsie-girly-girl, was in charge of the immature, juvenile pranks, like 'accidentally' tipping shavings from her pencil sharpener over me on her way to the bin, putting glue on my seat and other things like that. Sophia was the physical one, tripping me up, pushing me down stairs, jabbing me with her elbow as she passed, deliberately throwing dodgeballs too hard at me, that kind of thing.**

 **Of the three, it was Emma who hurt me the most. I could ignore or overlook what Madison and Sophia did, but with Emma, she knew every psychological weakness I had, every secret I had told her…and she used the against me ruthlessly.**

 _As Taylor spoke, images of everything that the three girls had done to her appeared on the screen, making the watching occupants growl with anger._

 **The bullying wasn't just restricted to the Trio, of course…I wasn't that lucky. Eventually, after a year-**

Tattletale paused as Brandish cursed loudly. "A YEAR?! What were the teachers _doing_?!"

 **Keeping a Ward on the premises. If memory serves, the PRT pushed Principal Blackwell to be lenient with her. I suspect she might have taken that a bit too literally, with the staff taking their lead from her.**

"Y'don't say?" Glory Girl eyed Shadow Stalker with displeasure. "I don't much like Skitter, but at the time she didn't deserve _any_ of that. What the _hell_ were you thinking?!"

"That Hebert was weak and fucking prey." Stalker snarled. "Hell, if it wasn't for me doing this to her, we'd be fucked. Look at it like _that_ , Glory Hole!"

She then cursed again as another watermelon dropped onto her head.

 **True enough, but a war criminal who saves a country is still a war criminal. You're out of prison because of the amnesty given to all supervillains, but I do believe that you are worse than those you struck down both as a vigilante and as a Ward. I think it's only a matter of time before you find yourself in trouble with the law again once you leave this place. Either that or you'll rage at someone who has no tolerance for your brand of bullshit.**

 **Continue please, Tattletale.**

After wondering for a moment why SeerKing had a thing for dropping watermelons on her head as a way of punishing Shadow Stalker, the blond Thinker complied.

 **-almost every student of Winslow, of every year, was complicit in the act of bullying me, either by action or by inaction. The teachers mastered the act of watching without seeing and I withdrew further and further into myself. Somehow, the Trio had gotten into my locker and stolen my mom's flute, destroyed it and then** _ **befouled**_ **it. It was repairable, but the cost would have been too much for me to pay by myself, and I didn't want to bring Dad into it.**

 **Oddly enough, by the time the Christmas Holidays of 2010 came around, the pranks had died off. I was a social pariah, sure, but that was** _ **leagues**_ **better than being bullied by the whole damn school. I had hoped that they had lost interest and moved onto other things.**

 **Unfortunately…the beginning of 2011 heralded immense change, both for me personally and for Earth Bet as a whole.**

The last image vanished as a wave of insects swept over the picture. When the wave passed, another banner hung there.

 **Episode 1: Gestation (Trigger)**

"Hold on!" Tattletale exclaimed in alarm. "You aren't going to make us watch her Trigger Event, are you?!"

The disturbed looks on the faces of every Cape in the room aside from Shadow stalker agreed with the Thinker's dislike of the idea.

 **Seeing what she went through is essential, so yes. On the bright side, it's only a Trigger on a screen, so you won't be knocked unconscious by the event.**

"That's not even _remotely_ _close_ to the point!" Panacea barked angrily. "A Trigger Event is the most personal and traumatic event in a person's life up until that point! It's _wrong_ for us to watch it! It's…it's perverse!"

 **Sadly, I cannot alter the game, Panacea. You will have to endure it. If you wish, I can remove your memories of the event before you leave, if you like?**

"You can _do_ that?!" Glory Girl looked disturbed.

 **This is my world. I can do pretty much as I please. Like this.**

Shadow Stalker yelped as she dropped into a pool of water that appeared underneath her, chair and all. She thrashed in the water for a moment before she was sitting back on the chair, as dry as a bone.

"Okaaaayyy…" The other members looked pretty freaked out by SeerKing's ability to control their environment. Tattletale eyed the screen where a prompt had appeared for her to press the 'X' button to continue. "Well, let's get it over with then…"

After Lisa pressed the 'X' button, the banner vanished and two lines of words in white appeared in its place.

 _3_ _rd_ _of January, 2011_

 _Winslow High School, Brockton Bay_

 _The screen changed to show a pair of feet walking across tarmac and concrete before halting. The camera panned up and zoomed out slowly to reveal Taylor Hebert looking up at Winslow Highschool with a look of trepidation on her face. She was dressed in drab, dowdy clothes that practically forced her into the background. The camera then moved to Third Person perspective over Taylor._

"This brings back memories." Tattletale sighed. "It took _ages_ for me to convince Taylor to wear clothes that suited her, and even then, it was to better suit the social situation, not suit her."

"A common effect of bullying is that the target becomes convinced that they are not pretty or attractive." Dragon said coolly. "Frequently, they dress down to try and avoid attention. That is the case here, I believe."

 **{Game Start!}**

 **{Welcome to Worm: The Rise of Skitter!}**

 **{Follow the objectives banner in the top right of your screen to advance the story!}**

 **{Tutorial Part 1: Movement}**

 **{Use the right stick to make Taylor move. The speed that she moves at will be determined by the situation.}**

"OK then." Tattletale whispered. "Now I feel like I'm _Mastering_ my friend. This _sucks_."

Glory Girl, who usually disliked the Thinker, actually grimaced in sympathy for her.

 _Tattletale made the figure of Taylor walk towards the front doors of Winslow, even as almost every person she passed looked at her. A few even smirked at Taylor, making her flinch away and speed up for a moment to get past them._

"OK, that's creepy as hell." Imp stated.

"They knew that Shadow Bitch and her two flunkies were planning something." Glory Girl said in disgust. "Look at this place! Gang colors worn openly, gang tags on the walls…I think those metal detectors are broken too. What a shithole."

"Vicky, language." Brandish said absently. "I do agree with you though…Winslow really was an appalling school."

"I think Taylor once mentioned that the gang kids carrying knives wasn't entirely unheard of." Tattletale remarked as she steered the figure of her friend through the corridors of the highschool.

 **I knew that something was up that day. The way people looked at me that day wasn't the typical 'oh look, it's the pariah' looks I usually got; it was more like 'oh look, it's the pariah, let's see what's going to happen now' kind of look. Had I known what was gonna happen…I'd have skipped school.**

"Just to warn you, this is _not_ going to be pretty." Tattletale warned everyone else. "Taylor told Grue, Alec and me about her Trigger Event and I came very close to hurling from what my powers told me she was saying."

 _Taylor's figure drew close to her locker and she eyed the nearby figures of Emma, Sophia and Madison with nervousness. Then, the scene shifted into a cut-scene, removing any control that Lisa had over what was about to happen._

 _Taylor wrinkled her nose as she caught scent of something disgusting coming from her locker. 'So they put something foul in it this time? A bit of a backslide, so maybe it was Madison's idea. Well, let's just get it over with.'_

 _Grabbing the lock, she spun it open and flung the steel door wide. The sight of what lay within horrifying her. The locker was full of used tampons and pads that were rotting and covered in bugs._

"Great good god!" Panacea gagged.

"Fucking Christ!" Glory Girl agreed, jumping up with a hand over her mouth.

"That…is _utterly_ disgusting!" Parian shuddered. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna hurl…!"

A bucket appeared next to her.

 **Use that. Anything placed into it won't emit a smell.**

Gratefully, the former Rogue used the bucket, with Foil rubbing her back comfortingly. Brandish, Vista, Tattletale, Bitch and Defiant each managed to hold on to their lunches, albeit with great difficulty.

 _On the screen, Taylor leaned over and threw up from the sight and smell of the horror that was the contents of her locker, as well as her own disgust. Then the camera moved back to show Sophia moving in and reaching a hand out to grab Taylor's hair._

"No…you didn't!" Panacea recoiled in horror before whirling around to glare at Shadow Stalker for a moment, who seemed utterly unmoved by what her past self was doing on the screen.

 _Grabbing Taylor's hair, Sophia picked her up and threw her into the mess inside her locker before slamming the door shut and locking it. The crowd around the locker started laughing as Taylor started to shriek and scream in horror. Then the bell for Class and Homeroom rang…and they just left her there._

 **Inside The Locker, I could barely breathe without wanting to throw up. I actually** _ **did**_ **throw up until all I could do was dry heave. I shrieked at the bugs crawling over me and gagged at the foul stench within the locker. It was so small that my arms couldn't move from my sides and I couldn't turn around.**

 **All of that was bad enough, but it was when I realised that people had** _ **watched**_ **me get shoved into the locker, had** _ **seen**_ **exactly what I had been thrown into…and they let it happen. As time passed, I realised that I had been abandoned by them all.**

 **Then…**

 **-[Destination]-**

 _Two massive beings entwined together in a spiral…_

 **/[Agreement]/**

 _Always together, unable to be separated…_

 **-[Trajectory]-**

 _Splitting apart, they would one day return to their former selves…_

 **/[Agreement]/**

 _Taylor hung in the air as two jeweled pieces of glowing light separated from each, spinning together into one as it sped towards her, the light engulfing her vision before she blacked out._

 **-/[Intersection!]/-**

"Holy…!" Defiant swore. "That's very similar to the vision that Miss Militia described to me once!"

 **The Trigger Vision, as it is called, shows The Warrior and The Thinker, known better to you all by the names Zion/Scion and Eden, during their arrival at Earth Bet. Miss Militia is the only person to remember her Trigger Vision due to her perfect memory.**

"I'm…an AI." Dragon frowned. "Why did I forget? Technically, I have a perfect memory too."

"Only Parahuman perfect memory abilities can negate the memory-erasing abilities of the Shards of the Entities, I suspect."

Panacea didn't really care much about that. "Hess! Why did you do that?!" she growled. "Do you have any idea how close you probably came to killing her?! There's a _reason_ why used feminine products are discarded separately!"

"What could have happened?" Glory Girl asked with a frown.

"Blood poisoning, numerous diseases and infections…and that's _just_ if they had been _fresh_!" the healer shuddered. "That locker looked as if they'd been left to rot and ferment for _weeks_! That wasn't just used feminine products anymore; that was fucking _toxic waste_! I'm amazed that I wasn't called in to heal her! it's even more amazing that she didn't go into system shock!"

The utter horror in the girl's voice convinced the rest of the occupants of her sincerity, who glared at Shadow Stalker, with Imp struggling to hold Bitch back, making Defiant go over and help, despite his own glare at his former subordinate.

 **I don't remember anything from after that, but I discovered later that I was locked in that accursed and foul metal box for over an hour; a janitor found me and got me out just before First Period ended.**

"Christ…!" Brandish blanched. "An _hour_ in that hellhole…I'm surprised that she didn't develop claustrophobia!"

 **I figured out my power while I was in the hospital. Bug control. I could absolutely command all of the** _ **bugs**_ **within my range. After going through** _ **Silence of the Lambs**_ **-level crap, all I could do was control the little bastards that had crawled over me in The Locker.**

 **God, was I** _ **pathetic**_ **or what?**

 **That didn't stop me though. I was going to be a hero, even with a pathetic, low-tier power like insect control. I'd just have to be smart about it. So I wasn't an Alexandria-type like I'd always secretly wanted to be; big wow. If I couldn't fight** _ **harder**_ **…I'd just have to fight** _ **smarter**_ **.**

"That is an impressive resolve." Dragon sighed. "After everything she was put through, she wanted to be a hero. What next, do you suppose?"

"This is still the tutorial, and it's chronologically about three months before she went out in costume for the first time, soooo…" Tattletale grinned. "We're gonna be looking at using Taylor's power, I'd say."

 **Here's the second part of this ficlet series. I'm probably only going to go up to the Lung fight with this, as this is** _ **way**_ **more time-consuming than I'd thought it would be. Still worth it though.**

 **As an aside to those wondering why certain people aren't there; Kid Win and Clockblocker are dead. Clockblocker for certain and Kid Win, almost a certainty. Piggot isn't there because I doubt she survived the Golden Morning, unless she's popped up in Ward recently. Danny is with Taylor and I, as the 'deity' in this fic, see no reason to rip them apart. Plus, I doubt Danny could keep Taylor's survival to himself, so the reason he's not there? Plot.**


	114. Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 3

**Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 112)**

Before Tattletale could continue with the game, SeerKing spoke up again.

 **Before you carry on, I must inform you that from this point on, you will be presented with choices in the game as to what Taylor would do in certain situations.**

"Choices?" Glory Girl blinked. "I thought that this game was telling Skitter's actual life after she Triggered?"

 **It can and will…so long as Tattletale selects the correct decision. Keep in mind that this is a game; while games that follow only a single storyline can and do exist, this particular one is loaded with different reactions to the different choices that Taylor can and did make. The reason why I made Tattletale take the controller is because she was Taylor's closest friend as an Undersider, as well as a powerful Thinker in close proximity to her for quite some time. If anyone among you can successfully guess Taylor's choices in this game, it is her.**

The Thinker actually blushed slightly before getting herself under control.

"So, you saying that means that Tats is gonna face one soon?" Imp asked, having finally calmed Bitch down.

 **Precisely.**

"What kind of choices?" Foil asked.

 **It varies. Some are minor, while others are life and death, for her and for others, while others can alter the course of the Golden Morning to a greater or lesser degree. I'll be giving Tattletale the system after the original timeline is played out, so you'll be able to go through it with her then, if you wish.**

"Let's continue on, shall we?" Tattletale suggested. "I think the game's getting impatient."

Indeed, the text onscreen was flashing black and white in an impatient tempo. Once everyone settled down (the occasional dirty look at Shadow Stalker aside), Tattletale pressed 'X' to continue.

 _The scene transitioned to an abandoned warehouse. The place was full of broken and disused equipment, boxes and the like. Taylor's voice spoke up again, pain in it._

 **After a week in hospital, during most of which I was almost catatonic, I was let out. The school paid for my medical treatment, but we weren't able to sue them or The Trio because no witnesses came forward…** _ **big**_ **surprise there. People didn't like Sophia; they were scared of her.**

 **I thought about what to do with my power. The Protectorate Wards was something I considered…**

 **{Vital Choice!}**

 **[Choose the Path that Taylor Walks Down!]**

 **1) …but decided against it. [_] –**

 **2) …and decided to try it. [_]**

 **3) …decided to build my reputation as an Independent Hero first. [_]**

"Fucking conspiracy of silence." Tattletale muttered as the first paragraph was spoken. Then, when the choices appeared on the screen, she just stared. "…the hell?!"

"She… _actually_ considered joining the Wards at first…?" Vista said slowly, as if hearing them would make more sense to her. "OK, wow."

"She obviously chose not to even attempt it." Brandish mused. "I can guess why, although hearing her reasoning would be preferable."

"Agreed." Dragon nodded.

Shrugging, Lisa went to the one that she knew Taylor had gone for almost instantly.

 **1) …but decided against it. [** **X** **] –**

 **2) …and decided to try it. [_]**

 **3) …decided to build my reputation as an Independent Hero first. [_]**

… **but decided against it. I just felt that the notion of escaping the stresses of highschool by flinging myself into a mess of teenage drama, adult oversight and schedules was self-defeating. I had enough teen drama at Winslow as it was; I did not need any more of it.**

 **Plus, my ability to trust authority figures and organized institutions had been basically destroyed over the period before my powers had been awakened. I wasn't going to give up what little independence and control I had left for anything.**

"As I suspected." Brandish sighed. "A typical Master in personality; the craving for some measure of control and independence. Not entirely without reason though. Very _good_ reasons in her case."

"Indeed." Dragon agreed. "Given what she went through, I'm surprised she trusted anyone at all."

"Taylor was stronger than a lot of people gave her credit for being." Tattletale remarked airily, throwing a pointed look at Shadow Stalker, who scowled.

"And what the fuck part of Hebert was strong before she fucking Triggered?"

 **Her mental strength, Hess.**

"Haah?" the crossbow-user sneered. "How the fuck is mental strength that isn't telekinesis _strong_?"

"I'll field this one." Dragon said before SeerKing could. "She was mentally strong, Hess, in that no matter what, she kept moving forward, despite going through some things that should have broken her, repeatedly."

 **Quite correct, Dragon. You, Sophia Hess, continually mistake physical force and action for the sole indication of strength. That isn't** _ **entirely**_ **wrong, but it isn't the** _ **only**_ **kind of strength. Indeed, nor is it often the** _ **best**_ **kind of strength. When given the choice between basic physical fighting ability and the strength to keep getting up, no matter how many times you are knocked down, I would personally choose the latter, nine times out of ten.**

"How is constantly taking abuse without fighting back any kind of strength?!" the black girl jeered. "You can't change _anything_ that way!"

 **She didn't need to change anything, in regards to you at least…all Taylor had to do was endure you and your minions' abuse until you all graduated. Then she could retake her courses, get a job and move on with her life, leaving your infantile actions behind in the past where they belonged. Rather than fight you, Hess, Taylor would have simply dropped out of school and studied to take her GED at home.**

 **In other words, you were like a storm that she had to endure. Irritating in the present, but one that would eventually pass her by if she had enough patience.**

Shadow Stalker growled angrily at the idea of being seen as something someone like Hebert could just brush off like a fly or something!

Tattletale just rolled her eyes at the obvious thoughts from the Breaker that she didn't need her power to read. Stalker was as easy to read as a child's book to someone used to reading people like she was.

 _Onscreen, Taylor walked into the warehouse and started walking into the middle of the warehouse, where a space had been cleared._

 **I started training to become a hero; exercising, researching, testing and honing my powers, not to mention throwing a costume together. My power was very wide-ranged…**

 **{Tutorial 2: Swarm Sense}**

 **Hold the lower right trigger (R2) to activate Taylor's {Swarm Sense} Mode!**

Tattletale did so.

 _Immediately, the screen went grey, radiating out from Taylor. The camera panned out, leaving the warehouse until the grey area covered what looked like…_

"Two blocks…" Defiant breathed. "Even before she practiced, she had _that_ kind of range…!"

 _Once the 'Swarm Sense' field was up, hundreds of blue pinpricks of light appeared within the radius of it, followed by a rising number of in the top right-hand corner of the screen that eventually stopped at 3487._

"Gross…! I can't believe that there were so many bugs near her." Glory Girl shuddered.

 **{Swarm Sense (1)}**

 **Taylor's Swarm Sense is literally her ability to feel any and all arthropods within her range, which will increase with practice. The number in the top right hand corner indicates the total number of creatures under her control. Press the triangle button in order to see a detailed rundown of exactly what she has at her command!**

"Do we have to?" Parian muttered. She had no problem with bugs in the abstract, but Skitter's swarm sometimes gave her chills down her spine when she thought about it.

 **Arthropods Within Swarm Sense:**

 **Black Widows: 172**

 **Cockroaches: 1567**

 **Flies: 309**

 **Brown Recluses: 159**

 **Moths: 57**

 **Butterflies: 35**

 **Mosquitos: 460**

 **House spiders: 457**

 **Assorted Beetles: 271**

"…cockroaches need to die." Foil said after recoiling and blanching at seeing the number of bugs that there were near Taylor.

All the other girls (excluding Bitch) nodded in agreement.

 **My range varied between two and two and a half blocks if I really stressed it. As to how many insects and the like I could control though…I don't think I actually had any limits. The more insects I had under my command, the more I could think and plan, meaning the more insects I could command…it was a loop.**

 **I also got a general sense of what any given insect could do; their species-unique traits, their physical abilities…quite a bit, actually. Best of all, I remembered all of it…although, come to think of it, I was always connected to at least some part of a swarm, so maybe that's why?**

 _Onscreen, Lisa was directed through another seven stages of the Tutorial, involving commanding Taylor's swarm, in both absurdly small detail and with a massed swarm, as well as both together, as well as experimenting with which type of spider web to use to make her costume. The final part of the tutorial was using her insects to fully build her costume out of spider silk._

"SeerKing, are the capabilities displayed here accurate?" Dragon asked abruptly as onscreen, Taylor looked the completed costume, the initial iteration of the outfit of Skitter the Villain.

 **To within a more than accurate degree that would have a supercomputer whirring in envy.**

"Then Skitter _could_ in fact force spiders to spin web until they couldn't anymore?" Defiant asked.

"Yes." Tattletale answered with a shrug.

"That's a _very_ small degree of bio-manipulation, I think." Foil said, catching on to where the two were going.

"It isn't." The blond Thinker refuted with a shake of her head. "Taylor had absolute command over any and all insects within her swarm, including things they couldn't instinctively control themselves. She could make them walk into fire despite their normal survival instincts normally dictating they flee from the heat, for example. All she did in the case of the spiders was removing the limiter that prevented their spinnerets running dry for good. No bio-manipulation necessary."

"She's right." Panacea said shortly. Being the resident bio-manipulator, her word carried quite a bit of weight. "Even if it was bio-manipulation, it wouldn't rate a single point on the PRT Threat Rating Scale."

That shut everyone up and they returned to watching the screen, which showed a still picture of Taylor walking through Winslow's corridors, in the middle of Sophia tripping her up with a sneer on her face.

 **Despite what had happened to me, it was back to business as usual at Winslow. Same old shit, just on different days. A part of me wanted, so badly, to use my powers on them, to get the smallest bit of revenge…**

 **{Vital Choice!}**

 **[Choose the Path that Taylor Walks Down!]**

 **1) …and did small stuff a couple of times. [_] –**

 **2) …and used everything I had against them. [_]**

 **3) …but refused to do anything. [_]**

"She did the first one, right?" Glory Girl asked knowingly. "I would've done that."

"Victoria!" Brandish scolded her.

"Mom, she was being practically tortured!"

"She didn't." Tattletale shook her head sadly before moving the cursor down and selecting the correct response.

 **1) …and did small stuff a couple of times. [_]**

 **2) …and used everything I had against them. [_]**

 **3) …but refused to do anything. [X] –**

Quite a few people blinked in a mix between shock and disbelief.

"She…didn't attack them?" Parian asked in surprise. "Like, _at all_?"

"Nope." Tattletale said with a sigh. "You'll see."

… **but refused to do anything, subtle or overt. Subtle things, like sneaking bugs into their food or giving them lice, or overt things, like having them being ambushed by a swarm, would be easy to trace back to the girl who had practically been swarmed with bugs very recently. Not to mention the fact that if I, let's say, gave them crabs, they'd take their anger and irritation out on me.**

 **Not to mention the fact I was very angry with all of them. If I started…I didn't trust myself to stop.**

There was silence from the room, before Brandish shook her head slowly.

"I don't know if I can call that admirable, stubborn or mature." She said slowly "As Victoria showed, any normal teenager wouldn't hesitate to get revenge if offered the opportunity, even if it was something petty. Skitter… _Taylor_ …rose above it, for reasons both moral and practical."

"Call it a mix of all three." Dragon said as she looked pityingly at the downtrodden image of Taylor Hebert onscreen. "She was far more merciful than anyone could have imagined. With even her initial control over insects, she could have slaughtered the student and teacher population of Winslow within a few minutes if she had time to set up Black Widows and Brown Recluses to drop on everyone at the same time."

"Not to mention using other bugs as distractions and herding swarms. Such as flying insects like flies, wasps and hornets." Defiant added.

Back on the screen, a short video of Taylor eating her lunch in a girl's bathroom stall was interrupted by The Trio forcing the door closed and then pouring various cups of juice onto her, making her sopping wet, ruining her lunch and coming very close to crying.

"That is just….why go so fucking _far_ on _one_ person?!" Parian shook her head in disgust.

"Because Stalker's scum." Foil grasped her girlfriend's hand tightly.

Squeezing back, the former-Rogue shook her head. "I mean, why only Taylor? Surely she wasn't the only person those bitches were bullying. Did they go this far with _all_ of them? If not, _why_ focus on Taylor so much?"

 **Emma Barnes was likely a driving force in that regard. Something happened to her that was Trigger-worthy but she didn't Trigger; instead, she suffered a mental breakdown and latched onto Sophia, the one who stepped in to save her, as a coping mechanism. Anyone who was familiar with Master/Stranger Protocols would have called it as soon as Taylor described the differences between Emma the last time Taylor saw her and Emma when Taylor came back from Summer Camp. Adopting Sophia's Predator/Prey attitude, Emma likely wanted to bully Taylor as a way to prove her strength.**

"…that is so fucked up that it makes sense." Tattletale shook her head. She'd never actually met Emma Barnes, but what SeerKing said did stand to reason, given what she did know about Taylor's former best friend.

 **Three months passed and my ability to endure the Trio's attacks grew thinner and thinner before one day, April the 10th, juice was poured over me in the bathroom while I ate lunch. Then my bag was stolen and stuffed into a trash can. It also had my journal of heroics in it, so this was a wakeup call for me. I bought a new one for twelve bucks and rewrote my notes in code to prevent people from reading them.**

 **It also made me lose what patience that I had. I decided to go out that night and start my career as a hero.**

 _The screen went black, before more bugs swept over it leaving a banner saying 'Chapter End' in the middle before another wave swept over the, replacing them with a larger banner._

 **Episode 2: Bug Girl vs. Rage Dragon**

"Wait…" Glory Girl said slowly. "She fought LUNG?!"

"Yup." Tattletale drawled smugly. "It'll also introduce…oh, at least _three_ other people currently here, I'd say."

She threw a significant look at Defiant, who tensed up at this.

 _An image of Taylor in her bedroom, putting her costume on, appeared onscreen. The black-and-grey spider silk costume, with armoured panels went on, followed by Taylor picking up her mask and looking it in the eyes for a moment before she turned it in her hands and slid it onto her head. The camera then switched to looking her straight in the face as she raised her head._

"That's intense." Imp laughed. "Damn, Tay's pretty serious."

"It was her first night out." Tattletale pointed out. "You took to the Cape lifestyle with flair, Imp, so it may not occur to you that to other people, masking up for the first time is a big deal."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get on and see Mr. Rage Dragon get his rear kicked." Imp replied with a shrug.

Transitioning to the next scene, Taylor in her costume stood at the end of her street. In the top left hand corner was what looked like a standard mini-map with the four directions indicated on it, as well as an objective marker pointing in one direction. There was also an objectives banner in the top right.

 **{Objective: Head towards the Docks area and gather a large swarm of insects as you go.}**

"I still have a hard time believing that Skitter beat _Lung_ of all people." Vista shook her head.

"She killed Alexandria. Lung isn't too much of a stretch by comparison." Tattletale pointed out. "Besides…she didn't finish him alone."

 _Onscreen, the not-yet-Skitter started running down back alleys, gather bugs as she went, the fliers picking up the slower ones and following. A counter beneath the mini-map steadily went up as she moved across Brockton Bay._

"Did she really think she'd need such a large swarm?" Panacea frowned.

"Her entire shtick was 'massed waves of expendable troops' Panacea." Tattletale replied dryly. "She was gathering more than enough for when her swarm got damaged. Good thing too."

 _As Taylor entered the Docks area of Brockton Bay, gang tags became more prevalent, as did the dilapidated and abandoned look of the buildings. Broken glass in the windows, an air of neglect and abandonment over what had once been a prosperous and bustling area of the city. Now a bleak and moldering remnant of a past long gone._

"How is she not running into gangbangers right now?" Glory Girl asked with a frown. "The Docks were usually covered with them at that time of night."

"The area Taylor's in at the moment is purely ABB and they were, mostly, securing their assets after the Ruby Dreams Casino was knocked over." Tattletale said casually. "That and Taylor had the best worst luck (or is that worst good luck?) in history when it comes to things like this; avoid a heap of low-level scrubs, get a Rage Dragon to the face."

Bitch snorted at that, with Imp snickering along. Even Parian and Foil let out a giggle at Tattletale's words.

"Also, she was looking for people breaking the law." The Thinker added in as an afterthought. "She told me that she saw probable-hookers, gang members and druggies on her way through the Docks, but none that were actually breaking the law when she saw them."

 _It was as Taylor drew close to a corner that a blue dome of energy appeared, with the picture of a familiar metallic dragon above the letters 'ABB'. Tattletale steered Taylor into it and then pressed 'X' when prompted to_

 **{Boss Area!}**

 **You have entered a boss area!**

 **Once in a boss area, you cannot leave until all enemy combatants are defeated.**

 **{Corner Cover}**

 **When standing next to a corner, press 'X' to flatten Taylor to the wall and look around it. Press the circle button to disengage from the wall.**

 _After Taylor flattened herself to the wall, she peered around the corner to see a group of Asian men wearing the green and red colours of the ABB gathering around a shop, about half a block away, with a large man stepping out of it. Six feet high, bare-chested and displaying a lot of dragon-oriented tattoos, he wore a metal dragon-mask over his face._

 **Lung. At the time, I had based all of my research on what was available on Parahumans Online, or PHO as everyone called it. All I knew about him from that was that he had entered the Bay, kicked the living shit out of the Protectorate and then formed the ABB. The powers that I knew about were his ability to transform, his ability to get stronger the longer a fight went on and his pyrokinesis. Other than that, I was just glad that I saw no sign of his flunky, Oni Lee.**

"She's treating _Lung_ like an _ordinary_ Cape villain." Brandish shook her head in disbelief.

"Given what happens next, she would have fought him even if she's known every detail of what he could do." Tattletale said with a superior look on her face.

 _Onscreen, Taylor detached herself from the wall and ghosted up the fire escape into the roof of a nearby building, very carefully moving around the gravel-lined rooftop via the lip at the edge of the roof, until she could listen in on the speech that Lung was apparently giving to his subordinates._

"… _the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot. You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?" Lung said just as one gang member lit a cigarette, the light from his lighter's flame reflecting off of guns carried by the dozen or so ABB members standing and listening to their boss' speech._

' _They want to kill kids?!' Taylor thought. 'What should I do…?'_

 **{Story Choice!}**

 **A Story Choice is even more important than a Vital Choice, influencing Brockton Bay as a whole rather than just Taylor and her civilian life. Choose carefully!**

 **Select the path that Taylor should take.**

 **1) I need to get out of here! [_] –**

 **2) I don't have a phone, so I should go and try to find a phone to call the PRT and the Protectorate. [_]**

 **3) There's no choice…I have to attack! [_]**

"And here's where her being stubborn about using cell phones is coming back to bite her." Glory Girl groaned.

"The chances of her running into Lung, of all people, on her first night should have been pretty low." Dragon noted. "I can see why she intervened though…I can't believe Lung actually wanted to kill _children_."

"Guy who fought Leviathan or not, that _would_ have gotten him a Kill Order, no mistakes." Vista agreed.

Shadow Stalker scoffed. "At least Hebert had the balls to _try_ and fight."

Everyone ignored her.

"So she decided to fight…because Lung would have gone off and killed kids -kids that she didn't know- if she didn't do something." Foil said in mixed disbelief and respect. Her opinion of Taylor, of Skitter, had been mostly that of her as a Warlord and a villain. This… _this_ was more like something a hero from a comic book would have done.

 **Thanks to Shadow Stalker and the other members of the Trio, Taylor had very little regard for her own life at that point. A lot of the drive to be a hero that she had was to prove to herself and to others that she wasn't worthless or useless. Ironic really, considering that even at her most villainous, she was more heroic than a lot of Protectorate heroes.**

More glares were sent at Stalker, to the point where she shifted uncomfortably. "Fuck you all!"

"Make the choice, Tattletale." Parian said as she sat straighter in her seat.

 **1) I need to get out of here! [_]**

 **2) I don't have a phone, so I should go and try to find a phone to call the PRT and the Protectorate. [_]**

 **3) There's no choice…I have to attack! [X] –**

"Let's go…Taylor." Tattletale whispered.

 **OK, so here's chapter 3 of this ficlet. Some people have complained that this type of fic is overdone in Worm. If it is, it's news to me. If anyone DOES know of a fic that shows the story of Worm, to the characters of Worm, by all means, tell me in the reviews.**

 **The next chapter will be the last I will write of this ficlet sequence, because I have other ideas trying to break into my head and I need to get them down to get rid of them. Also, this is taking a while because, if anybody's ever played a JRPG before, you will know that the introduction and tutorial sections are generally speaking longer than other games.**


	115. Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 4

**Worm: The Rise of Skitter Chapter 4 (original chapter Chapter 112)**

 _After Tattletale made her choice, more ABB grunts showed up and joined the group surrounding Lung, who looked ready to order them to move out._

 **{Enter Swarm Sense Mode}**

 **Fighting Lung will need all of the forces Taylor can muster. Once Swarm Sense Mode is active, automatically take control of all insects within you radius by pressing the right and left stick simultaneously.**

Doing do, Tattletale blinked as the number of insects Taylor had at her disposal skyrocketed.

"She really had no limits to how many insects she could command." Dragon said steadily. "I can only think of a couple of Masters with this kind of strength."

 **Taylor's Agent, the Queen Administrator, was the opposite of Glaistig Uaine's own. It was the epitome of Master powers regarding the living. Even if she'd only Triggered once, she would have been powerful. As it is, it's highly likely that she Double Triggered in the Locker.**

"What's that?" Glory Girl blinked.

"A Double Trigger is when a person Triggers, and then undergoes a Second Trigger Event almost immediately afterwards." Defiant stated slowly. "Rather than a 'normal' Second Trigger event adding, stretching or removing restrictions in the powers, a Double Trigger generally just reinforces the powers of the original Trigger Event, making it more powerful and wider-ranged. It's quite difficult to tell when someone's undergone a Double Trigger Event though, as the effects of a regular Trigger and a Double Trigger are almost identical."

"That poor girl…" Brandish shook her head slowly.

"That Locker must have been worse than we thought." Foil scowled at Shadow Stalker.

 **{Swarm Sense and Combat}**

 **While in a combat or pre-combat/ambush situation, time ceases moving forward for all intents and purposes while Swarm Sense is active. This is to reflect the increased processing ability granted by Taylor's power.**

 **For this fight, you will have a guide to how to use your minions, but in future, you will have to direct the insects yourself.**

"That makes sense." Dragon nodded. "As this is a game, there were always two paths for the fights to go; preprogramed attacks and customized attacks. If the majority of this game's actions are seen through Taylor, then it makes sense that if they're the latter, some way of planning and executing the attacks would be necessary."

 _Onscreen, Tattletale followed the instructions, assigning a group of the stinging and biting insects to attack the ABB grunts as soon as Swarm Sense Mode was deactivated, while a lot of venomous insects were assigned to attack Lung upon the pressing of a button, as well as a secondary command to the first group to attack Lung at that point as well._

"Here we go." The Thinker muttered and released Swarm Sense Mode.

 _Immediately, the perspective changed to view the group of ABB thugs and Lung, who found themselves besieged by a veritable plague of insects and arachnids. Screaming and wailing in pain, they futilely beat at their clothes, dropping their guns in their panic._

" _Argh!"_

" _Where the -?! Who?!"_

" _Get 'em off! Get 'em off!"_

 _After being bitten and stun a few times, Lung flared up with his pyrokinesis power, sending streams of fire out from his hands in an attempt to burn the swarm to ashes._

' _He's a regenerator…he should be able to be bitten and stung by my other insects without dying…'_

 _Tattletale, taking that as her prompt, pressed the assigned button and Lung was swarmed under by Black Widows, Brown Recluses, wasps, bumblebees and other biting and stinging venomous insects, not to mention the nonvenomous kind as well. The flying insects focused on his face beneath his mask and the ground insects, ants and spiders, focused on his crotch; the most vulnerable areas he had._

"Yikes!" Panacea winced. " _That_ many bites and stings from _that_ many poisonous insects would have killed anyone but a regenerator."

With a roar, Lung let loose a large explosion of fire, killing all of the insects on him, as well as burning off his clothes and setting one of his men on fire as well. He then started attacking the bugs around him with his fire.

 **{Quick Time Events, Part 1}**

 **From this point, you must press the indicated button when it flashes in order to make Taylor act and react to the enemy's attacks. For optimum damage to the target, press the corresponding button when it is surrounded in a white ring.**

"Crap." Tattletale growled. She knew about these kind of events in games, although Regent hadn't had many, preferring FPS games like _Call of Duty_.

 _Pressing 'X' at the right moment had Taylor send a wall of harmless insects at Lung to gain some time, before pressing the 'square' button had her send a wasp to sting his eye, making the Dragon of Kyushu scream in rage at the pain and unleash another explosive wave of fire, which made his henchmen decide to flee._

"OK, OW!" Vista winced. Being stung by a wasp was generally bed enough, but being stun on the _eyelid_? Sheesh, Taylor did _not_ hold back _at all_ if you were dangerous enough to warrant her going all out on you!

 _Lung was steadily growing, a third of his body covered in metallic scaled armour, fingers and toes turning into metallic daggers and he had grown significantly since the start of the fight._

' _He's getting too powerful. I have to finish this, quickly!'_

 _A press of the 'O' button had a bumblebee deliver a sting right to the center of Lung's other eyeball. A 'triangle' had the bee sacrifice itself to sting Lung's tear duct on that same eye._

 _With a growl, Lung set himself on fire, making any further attacks against him with insects completely useless._

' _Damn. I can't beat him.' They heard Taylor curse. 'I'd better withdraw. His thugs are either knocked out or running with their tails between their legs. He won't be going after any kids tonight.'_

 _The camera panned back to Taylor, who took a step back as she prepared to leave, her foot crunching the gravel on the roof. The screen split, showing Lung whirling around with a roar as he finally found his tormentor._

"Aw fuckberries!" Imp cursed.

"Like I said, best worst luck imaginable." Tattletale grimaced.

 _As Lung launched himself up, the scene froze and another window appeared._

 **{Quick Time Events, Part 2}**

 **In some QTE's, you will be forced to choose what action Taylor will take next. The choice will generally be between two options, with three being the most you will have to deal with. In this case, your choice is between hitting the 'X' button, which will make Taylor run away, and hitting 'O', which will make her attack Lung with her pepper spray when he climbs up to her level.**

 **This time only, you have no time limit for this selection. In future, you will have a countdown from fifteen to zero to make your choice.**

"Pepper spray? Against fucking LUNG?!" Glory Girl asked skeptically.

"Language." Brandish scolded her daughter absentmindedly.

Almost without hesitation, Tattletale hit the 'O' button. She knew what Taylor had done at this point…she'd been watching, after all.

 _Onscreen, the figure of Taylor reached into her back pouch and pull out a small black canister of pepper spray, even as the sounds of Lung climbing up the building grew louder and louder. Just after Taylor crouched down, Lung appeared over the edge of the roof, looking like a demon. Covered in flames and metallic scales, with one eye swollen closed, the sheer fury coming off of him was almost palpable._

 _An 'X' had Taylor spray him in the shoulder, creating a small fireball and eliciting a hushed curse from Taylor. A 'triangle' had the girl adjust her aim and spray him in the face, right where his good eye was located._

 _Lung screamed in pain and clutched his good eye with his free hand while pulling himself up with his other one. Towering eight feet high, he loomed over Taylor menacingly as a 'square' sent her bolting for the fire escape._

 _With a roar of 'Motherfucker,' Lung flung a wave of fire across the roof that hit Taylor and sent her crashing to the rooftop, frantically patting down first her costume and then her hair to make sure neither was on fire. The Rage Dragon limped forwards and flung out another blast, which Tattletale reacted to by pressing the 'X' button, making Taylor duck down and curl into a ball to endure the flames._

 _The Dragon of Kyushu growled in frustration as he limped forwards slowly, turning his head from one side to the other. "Cock. Sucker. Move. Give me something to aim for."_

' _Yeah, like I'm gonna do that.' Taylor's mental voice snarked at him._

"She fucking _blinded_ him, temporarily at least." Foil shook her head in amazement. "I don't think any one Parahuman had _ever_ hurt Lung like that before this."

"They hadn't." Dragon said, eyes locked on the screen. "Lung had received grievous wounds before this, but not injuries directly to his eyes. By the looks of it, he also had superhuman hearing once he started his transformation, so perhaps a flashbang would have been an effective tool to use against him. Good data to use against him for future encounters with him."

 _Abruptly, Lung extended his arm, pointing it away from Taylor and blasted his flames at the rooftop opposite him. Taylor raised her head slightly and peered into the gloom, but could make nothing out._

 _In the next moment, a van-sized monster landed atop of Lung, covered in boney protrusions and built like a rhino. It started wrestling with him, falling off the building after he smacked it back and it rhino-charged him._

"Brutus!" Bitch exclaimed.

"I'm sorry?" Vista blinked.

"That's one of her dogs." Imp informed her.

 _Two more of the monsters appeared, this time carrying a pair of figures on their backs. One, wearing motorcycle leathers and a motorcycle helmet with the full-face visor sculpted to resemble a sneering skull, dropped down and approached Taylor, who was very shakily standing up._

"Grue…" Imp said quietly, her eyes fixed on the costumed form of her brother for the first time since he'd died during the Golden Morning.

" _You really saved us a lot of trouble." The figure said in a deep, masculine voice slightly muffled by his helmet. He reached out a hand to help Taylor, but she jerked back reflexively. Withdrawing his hand, he thumbed over his shoulder at where Lung was fighting against the animal, which was swiftly joined by the other two at the whistled command of one of the two dismounted female figures._

" _When we got word Lung was aiming to come after us tonight, we were pretty freaked. We were arguing strategy for the better part of the day. We eventually decided, fuck it, we'd meet him halfway. Wing it. Not my usual way of doing things, but yeah." The boy continued. "Wouldn't you know, his flunky Lee is there with a half dozen guys, but Lung and the rest of his gang are nowhere to be found?" he laughed at this point. "Lee's no slouch in a fight, but there's a reason he's not leader of the ABB. He got spooked without his boss there and ran. I guess you're responsible for that?"_

 _Moving to the edge of the roof, he looked down and said to Taylor, "Lung is getting creamed. The fuck you do to him?"_

" _Pepper spray, wasp and bee stings, fire ants and spider bites." A familiar voice said from the screen as the Tattletale of the past came up to introduce herself. Wearing a purple and black bodysuit, she also had windswept blond hair. "He's not holding up too well. Gonna feel a helluvalot worse tomorrow."_

"My new costume looks better than that one." The Tattletale of the present said, eying her old outfit critically. "Fucking Coil."

 **It was then that they introduced themselves to me. The boy in leathers was Grue, the leader of their team. Next was Tattletale, the girl in purple and black. The girl who had commanded the dogs was Bitch or, as the PRT called her, Hellhound. And, as Grue put it, last and certainly least was Regent, the renaissance fair reject with a white mask.**

 **Little did I know it at the time, but these four would be my greatest allies and friends, ones who I cherished and cared for, even if I eventually betrayed them in an effort to make a difference.**

Tattletale swallowed thickly. "Oh dammit, Taylor…"

Bitch looked irritated for some reason. "Tch. Idiot…"

 **{Episode End}**

 **Episode 3: The Ambitious Master of Arms**

"Master of arms…?" Brandish parroted as she turned her head to face Defiant with narrowed eyes, who was staring straight ahead. "Now that I come to think of it, _Defiant_ , weren't _you_ the one who claimed to have taken down Lung?"

"I am Defiant, not Armsmaster." The armoured hero stressed firmly.

"Cut the crap." Glory Girl rolled her eyes. "As rebranding goes, yours was just _barely_ papering over the cracks!"

"We'll find out what _Armsmaster_ did if we play the game." Tattletale said smoothly, and not a bit smugly. She didn't like what the man had done to her friend and it was high-time that people started seeing what he had been like, even before his actions during the Leviathan Battle.

 **After talking for a few minutes more, and Lung getting knocked out by the animals of Bitch, the four who I would later know to be the Undersiders sped off on their rhino-dog-things. They were the 'kids' that Lung had been going out to kill. I had almost gotten** _ **killed**_ **trying to stop Lung from attacking** _ **other villains**_ **, ones who had mistaken** _ **me**_ **for a villain too.**

 **I hate myself sometimes.**

 **Tattletale had warned me that a Protectorate Cape was approaching and the one who showed up surprised me…Armsmaster. He was the leader of the Protectorate East-North-East, headquartered on the forcefield-shrouded island in the middle of the bay of Brockton Bay. He had action figures and all kinds of other merchandise…including Armsmaster panties. I knew; I had a pair.**

"What on earth were you _thinking_ when you approved those, Armsmaster?" Dragon groaned with a slight facepalm. Defiant had the sense to look slightly sheepish and embarrassed.

 **Given all of that, the first words he said to me when he arrived, after asking if I was going to fight him, were surprisingly hurtful.**

" _I'm a good guy." Taylor said to the blue and silver armoured Armsmaster onscreen._

" _You don't look like one." Armsmaster replied._

"Were you stupid enough to say that to Alexandria as well?" Imp jeered at Defiant.

"She would've punched him into next week." Tattletale smiled, baring her teeth in a predatory fashion. "He just has all the tact that a two year old does."

 **After a bit of back and forth, during which I told him about the entire fight (which he should have remembered when dealing with Lung afterwards, idiot) and about my meeting afterwards with the Undersiders, he told me about how the other two members of the ABB with powers, Oni lee and the new Tinker, Bakuda, would start gunning for me if they knew I had taken down Lung.**

 **I recognised what he was doing. He didn't actually care about me; he wanted to claim the credit for taking down and brining in Lung.**

 **I…**

 **{Vital Choice!}**

 **1) …let him take it. [_] –**

 **2) …refused. [_]**

 **3) …made a deal with him. [_]**

"Why you…!" Foil sounded angry and incredulous. " _You stole credit for her fight?!_ Oh come _on_! How did _anyone_ believe this shit? The sheer number of bites and stings in him must have made SOMEONE twig to the fact that a bug controller was involved!"

"Dragon, surely _you_ must have seen the list of Lung's injuries and felt something was amiss?" Panacea asked.

Tattletale snorted. "He got in the shit because he injected Lung with a regeneration inhibitor and Lung's dick rotted off from the spider and ant bites. If she didn't know about that, considering she had free access to the Protectorate ENE's systems, I would be _very_ surprised."

"I didn't, actually." Dragon said stiffly. "I still had restrictions preventing me from accessing government and private systems without specific permission at that time, and Armsmaster didn't tell me about this. I am _very_ disappointed in him for how manipulative he was here."

Shadow Stalker, who had been silent until this moment, just snorted. "Isn't as if Hebert actually took him down anyway. That was those freakish mutts-OOF!"

Bitch had stormed over to the Shadow Breaker and punched her in the solar plexus, hard. " _Don't_ talk about Angelica, Judas and Brutus like that, you fucking cunt." The Canine Mistress growled angrily before stomping back to her seat, leaving Shadow Stalker wheezing as she fought both to recover her breath and to not throw up.

"Ignoring Psycho Stalker's idiocy for Armsmaster's, yeah, this is a fuckup of grand proportions." Parian shook her head. "Leaving _aside_ the fact that he blatantly manipulated an inexperienced, wounded and exhausted hero into giving him credit for her hard work, he also, if some things she and Tattletale told me are true, he then took it out on her for Lung getting badly wounded and him getting a rocket for it when it was his own fault for stopping Lung's regeneration."

"I healed Lung after Armsmaster brought him in." Panacea said crisply. "Had he just waited a while before injecting Lung with the regen inhibitor, Lung would have been fine."

"It was standard procedure-" Defiant began.

"You just didn't _think_!" Brandish interrupted him with a disdainful look. "You never thought to connect the _hundreds_ of bug bites that Lung was covered with the possibility the only thing keeping him alive was his regeneration factor. Seriously, why you were _ever_ placed at the head of the Protectorate ENE is beyond me."

Defiant ground his teeth slightly, but said nothing. Tattletale simply selected the correct choice.

 **1) …let him take it. [** **X** **] –**

 **2) …refused. [_]**

 **3) …made a deal with him. [_]**

… **let him take it. I was both mentally and physically exhausted, wounded and truth be told, the thought of having Oni Lee and Bakuda after me** _ **was**_ **something that worried me. More than that, Armsmaster was the leader of the Protectorate in Brockton Bay. Having him tacitly owe me one was a big card to play when things got desperate that I couldn't turn down.**

"Well-reasoned, but it sounds more like a justification than an argument." Brandish mused.

"I think she just wanted to get it over and done with so she could get home, sleep and recover from almost being turned into flambé, Brandish." Vista said dryly. The revelation here about who had taken down Lung (for the most part) and why had shaken her. She had known that Skitter had acted benevolently in the aftermath of Leviathan, at least regarding those citizens in her territory, but this…seeing that Taylor Hebert had leapt in to fight LUNG, of all villains, because she thought he was going to kill kids, had given her respect for the girl.

More than that, her faith in Defiant/Armsmaster had been shaken. While shocked and appalled by the increased replacement of his body with cybernetic implants, Defiant had still been a figure worthy of respect for her, while a small part of Vista had still blamed Flechette/Foil's defection on Skitter. The revelation of Armsmaster's words and actions towards a girl trying to be a hero, despite having every reason to go bugpocalypse on her shithole of a school hit her _hard_.

"We should continue, I think." Dragon said calmly. "We've only gone through her first three months as a Parahuman; we have a lot of ground to cover."

Nodding, with dirty looks being sent at both Defiant and Shadow Stalker, the rest returned their attention to the screen.

 **OK, and that is it DONE! God, this took** _ **forever**_ **. I know that some people dislike 'simply going over Canon' when there are literally** _ **thousands**_ **of fan fics about Worm in general, and Taylor in particular to draw on, including my own Waterworks, but…in my case, I'm nowhere** _ **near**_ **narcissistic enough to write a 'reading of' story about one of my other stories. In the case of other stories, I would have to ask permission (do this!) from the author to do so and there was little point in doing so for a ficlet that wouldn't be completed.**

 **On a sadder, more sombre note, I am sure you all know by now that Stan Lee, the Father of Marvel and the King of Cameos, passed away four days ago at the grand old age of ninety-five. While I was never a big comic fan, the Marvel Universe that he created drew me in on TV, the big screen and in games. Spiderman especially was one of the cartoons that I loved and watched as a child and as a teenager.**

 **As you may know, I included Stan in my ficlet [She's a Hero]. I did debate not continuing that ficlet, but I eventually decided that Mr Lee wouldn't want his death to hamper a writer's drive and that I would indeed continue it, if for no better reason than as a homage to the passing of a great man and the end of an era.**

 **Stan Lee**

 **1922-2018**

" **Excelsior!"**


	116. She's a Hero Chapter 2

**She's a Hero Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 91)**

 _A Week Later_

 _Abandoned Warehouse, Brockton Bay_

Taylor watched as her Heybo-turned-awesome-giant smashed its way through the obstacles that she had just had it set up. She was very impressed by how fast and strong it was. Even with the bulk it was carrying around with it, it could still probably outpace a fit man running full out, and it could punch through steel like it was rice paper.

The new Parahuman frowned as she remembered Alan Barnes coming over to her house the other day to talk to her and her father, asking why she had pointed the PRT at them. He had left with a flea in his ear about Emma's reaction to her coming back from Camp. He had left _them_ with the tale of what had happened to him and Emma while she had been at camp.

A cold fury burned inside the bespectacled teen. The ABB had almost taken Emma, almost made her into a girl turning tricks in one of their brothels. As it was, it was clear to the Heberts that Emma had more than a few problems, which Danny had convinced Alan to send his daughter to a psychologist to deal with.

' _I am going to make them_ pay _._ ' Taylor though, her teeth grinding was she recalled the details of what had happened to her friend, to her sister-in-all-but-blood.

A large hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up to see her Heybo (she really was going to have to come up with a name for him) looking down at her in concern.

"I'm fine." She said, smiling up at her construct. It was very strange, in her opinion. She had researched the Cape categories on the PRT website and on PHO and she couldn't really decide which category she fit into. The Heybo was definitely a Brute, with possibly some Mover abilities given the speed he could go at in spite of his bulk. As she 'created' him though, that _should_ technically make her what PHO referred to as a Master.

The only fly in the ointment was that she wasn't creating him from energy, like the Nazi Cape Crusader did with his ghosts, or from things lying around like a few other Capes did. She was enhancing what was already there, improving its ability to move and fight. That, in her opinion, upped her to being a Trump as well. And, as she wasn't touching it directly when she did so, it should also make her a Shaker. So she would either be a Master, with sub-classifications of Trump and Shaker, or a flat out Master/Shaker/Trump.

Getting all of those from a bolt of lightning hitting her was weird, but Taylor just rolled with it. Powers were weird.

That wasn't the _only_ strange thing about her Heybo. She had noticed that she was calling it 'him' whenever she activated and transformed him. It just…felt _right_ , somehow. The Heybo was also a lot more…human…than she had any right to expect. Entirely silent, but his face was very expressive and could convey _exactly_ how he felt _very_ clearly. He had a mind of his own and didn't actually _need_ her to command him, although he would follow her orders if she gave any.

The gauntlet she wore had to have some other purpose other than as a way to activate her Heybo's transformation back and forth. Exactly what it could be, she had no idea, but something was niggling at her about it.

She was dressed in black clothing to better hide her identity, along with an old witch mask she'd worn once for Halloween. Not the best outfit for going out performing heroics with, but everyone had to start somewhere.

"Let's head back." She told her Heybo. "We _really_ have to get you a name as well."

Her large guardian silently nodded as he picked her up and placed her on his shoulder, heading out to roof leap back to her home.

 _The Next Day_

 _Marvel Universe, Brockton Bay_

"Taylor!" Stan said with a smile as she entered the shop. He was in the middle of stocking the shelves. "Glad to see you, kid. You OK after what happened?"

"Considering Panacea told me that the bolt of lightning that hit me would've killed ninety percent of people who were hit by it, I'm good." The bespectacled brunette smiled back. "Thanks for saving me. She told me that if you and Dad hadn't gotten home when you did, I might not have lasted long enough for her to get to me."

"I'm grateful too; can't believe that it happened." The man shook his head slightly. "Anyway, what can I do for you, true believer?"

"Dad said you had an opening for a job." Taylor said with a shrug. "We could use the money, and I'd prefer working here to biking around, delivering papers."

"With racists, rage dragons and pot-heads floating around, you'd _better_ not do a paper round." Stan snorted. "Consider the job yours, Taylor. Your shift starts next Tuesday, quarter-past four 'till eight. I can pay you just a bit above minimum wage, with bonuses for overtime and the usual stuff. Sound OK?"

"Sure." She grinned. "Who quit though? Everyone looked like they enjoyed working here…"

"Cy got into an accident. Busted his leg." The store owner grimaced. "Poor kid. Told him he shouldn't do American football, but what does old Stan know? Now look at him. Eh, he'll be back once his leg's on the mend. You'll be covering his shifts. That's Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays."

"Fine by me." Taylor nodded. That would still give her plenty of time to train with her Heybo (name still pending).

A pair of loud voices from the floor above made Stan roll his eyes in mild exasperation.

"Do me a favour and go and grab Joey. Knowing him, Lina'll have convinced him to have a quiet kiss somewhere and Will found out about it." The store owner said with a resigned shake of his head. "Overprotective brothers, I _swear_ …."

Taylor winced slightly. From what she had gathered, Will did _not_ approve of his little sister's choice in boyfriend. Will, who was built like a bodybuilder, was the total opposite of Joey, who was skinny in a similar way to Taylor. He was quite cute though, like an earnest puppy. Lina was a very feminine girl who went to Arcadia and was a cheerleader. She and Will had started working at Marvel Universe just a short while after Joey, Lina because she wanted to spend time with her boyfriend and Will because he wanted to keep an eye to make sure Joey obeyed the 'Thou shalt not lay hands on inappropriate locations on Lina's body' rule he had given Joey when he had found out that the slight boy was dating his little sister.

It should be known that the one who chafed the most under Will's laying down of the law was Lina, who resented her brother's interference in her love life. She _wanted_ Joey to get grabby with her.

"OK, boss." Taylor sketched a salute and headed off to save the boy from Will's not-so-tender mercies.

 _Later that Night_

 _Kitchen, Hebert Residence_

"You didn't have to do that, Taylor." Danny said in concern. "I know I'm the one who pointed you at the job, but…"

Taylor, who was cooking at the stove, shook her head. "I want to, Dad. What with how things have been these days, we need all the money we can get. Stan's going to pay me a bit above minimum wage, so that'll help. We really can't afford to tighten our belts much more than we already have."

"…true." Danny allowed with a reluctant sigh. The Dockworker's Association was a dying organisation, and even the Union Representative (or maybe especially the Union Representative) wasn't paid much compared to a high-priced lawyer like Alan Barnes. And everyone's salaries had been cut as jobs became scarcer and scarcer.

"I hope mom would approve." The girl muttered as she stirred the soup she was cooking before checking the timer she had for the lasagne.

"Annette would." Danny snorted. "You know your mother ran with Lustrum, back before things turned sour? She was always a strong activist for woman's rights and empowerment, and nothing quite said independent than a paying job. She disapproved of traditional 'stay-at-home' housewives quite a bit, unless there was a legitimate reason for them to not get a job. I think she'd be very happy and proud of you."

Taylor smiled happily. "Thanks Dad. Dinner should be ready inside of the next three minutes or so."

Later that night, Taylor snuck out again, her Dad's snoring echoing throughout the house. With that happening, at least she would have a good excuse for not looking like she'd had a good night's sleep. How her mother had put up with sleeping next to him when he snored was beyond her; it was like a buzz saw.

Forcing away the fond memory of her mother mock-complaining about her Dad's snoring, Taylor ducked into an empty house and transformed her Heybo into what she had decided to call his Warrior Form. Seeing the transformation brought to mind the appearance of a certain thunder god in one of Stan's comics from before the advent of Scion. It got her to wondering if her Heybo could use electricity at all. He was surrounded by it during his transformation, and it was lightning that gave Taylor her powers in the first place…

"Let's go." Taylor said to her Heybo as they left the house. The giant nodded and perched her atop his shoulder before leaping into the night. Just about the only downside of this method of travel were the large footprints that he left behind as he landed and took off. For whatever reason, there were no craters left behind when he did either. Some sort of gravity control field to limit his force of impact, Taylor assumed.

Once again: powers are weird.

The route that she and her construct used took her past Marvel Universe, and Taylor made her companion halt atop a nearby roof when she saw a bunch of Merchants heading towards the building in force. At least twenty of them were walking/staggering towards Stan's shop carrying bottles with rags stuffed down them. It did not take someone of Taylor's obvious intelligence to deduce what they were planning.

"Oh no. Oh _hell_ no." Taylor growled angrily. "You are _not_ going to destroy Stan's shop! Go get 'em, Heroman!"

The name rolled off her tongue before she could consider what she was saying, but the newly-dubbed Heroman merely nodded as if it was his name the whole time and placed Taylor onto the rooftop before leaping down in front of the Merchants, barring their path.

"Who -and what- the fuck're you!?" the one who was apparently the leader of the group snarled at Heroman, who merely looked back sternly and crossed his arms, giving the unspoken idea that he would not be letting them past him.

"Scrag him!" the leader shouted, drawing a pistol from his jacket and firing almost in one motion. The other Merchants pulled weapons as well, mostly pistols, but a few revolvers and submachineguns as well, and opened up.

This being the first time that Heroman had been attacked, Taylor switched her gaze worriedly to her silent guardian, but what she saw made her breathe a sigh in relief. The bullets were bouncing off his body effortlessly, leaving nary a scratch.

"No freaking WAY!?" one yelped as one by one, the guns clicked dry of bullets.

"Fuck! This must be some kinda Tinkertech toy!" the leader growled. "Light him up boys! Let's see how he likes feeling the heat!"

As the ones carrying the Molotov cocktails passed them out and started to light them, Taylor decided that it was time to be proactive. Looking into the small screen at the end of her gauntlet, Taylor saw the little fist symbol and grinned fiercely.

"Heroman, **[Engage]**!" she ordered and slammed her palm in place over it, making the blue light of the screen shine brightly.

Down below, Heroman stiffened as he received his order and let out a bellow as he charged the now-panicking Merchants. With a light swipe of one arm, he sent half-a-dozen of them flying into nearby parked cars (Taylor had to wonder about people who willingly left their cars parked outside and vulnerable in Brockton Bay at night as it was just asking for them to be stolen) before he picked up another and used him as an ersatz bowling ball to deal with another group of druggies.

The Merchants, having expected a milk run of lobbing Molotov cocktails at a shop unopposed, were now in total disarray. Being confronted by a large white, blue and red robot-like man who bounced veritable fusillades of bullets and threw grown men around like a bunch of ragdolls was so totally out of their expectations that it was actually somewhat admirable that they stayed the course as long as they did, but something in them gave at this point and the remaining Merchants broke and ran, fleeing from the white giant that had torn through them like paper.

This left Taylor with a dozen semiconscious drug dealers, with assorted bullets, guns and smashed bottles of vodka lying scattered around Heroman to deal with. She didn't know what to do with them, really, because she didn't have a mobile phone (something she'd have to remedy at some point) and she point-blank refused to touch the smelly and filthy bodies of the Merchants to search them for some of their own.

' _Urgh. Brain bleach, where are you?_ ' Taylor thought with a shudder. Even _thinking about_ touching Merchants was disgusting.

Then, a thought occurred to her, making her smiled in a very predatory fashion. "Heroman, grab those Merchants. We have an _example_ to make…"

 _Later on_

 _Front Desk, Brockton Bay Central Police Precinct_

Officer Alex Murphy hated the night shift. He always drank coffee like water in order to stay awake and that meant numerous trips to the bathroom in order to get rid of it at some point.

' _I can't wait until I get put back on the streets._ ' He thought as he suppressed a yawn. ' _Just because I was almost shot by the damn Empire on my first patrol…_ '

At least the copious free time he had while on the front desk meant that he had plenty of time to fill out the various reports for those rare few criminals brought in at night. Most of them were easy, charged with Drunk and Disorderly. A few serious ones like Possession of Drugs, Attempted Rape and Assault with Intent to Kill came up at least once a night, although once was too many in Murphy's opinion.

The sad fact was that the BBPD were not very relevant in the Bay. Oh, they handled the day to day crime and domestic incidents when called upon. A lot of the non-gang crime as well. In a world of Parahumans though, they were, if not helpless, then seriously outmatched by the likes of Hookwolf, Lung and Squealer. If only the Protectorate didn't have a stranglehold on government-sanctioned Parahumans then they could grandfather some of the independents into working for the police.

But no. Murphy knew for a _fact_ that Dauntless was an ex-cop and he had been transferred so quickly that the paperwork hit the table even as he left the building once he got powers. Any time Murphy brought up the idea of perhaps deputizing one or two of the Indies, he was smacked down hard and his time at the desk at night was extended.

He had learned his lesson, but dammit, he was getting sick and tired of being helpless to protect the citizens of Brockton Bay from those Parahuman criminals!

Abruptly, a loud BANG sound, coupled with a tremor, made him look up, startled. Something _large_ was outside the doors of the station and he quickly drew his handgun and chambered a round just in case. Murphy blinked as the large shape, humanoid he noted, turned and ran up the street, leaving a pile of _something_ there on the police's doorstep.

Smacking the intercom, he said, "Officer Murphy to Sergeant Williams. We have a situation here, sarge."

A moment later, the woman came up to the desk via the door behind him. Police Sergeant Williams scowled as she saw the pile sitting outside the door. "Report, Murphy."

"Ma'am. Approximately three minutes ago, a large humanoid figure landed in front of the doors and deposited a pile of something there before retreating at a run." He replied crisply. "I have not ventured out to investigate it as of yet."

"You are now, with me." Williams said crisply. She had transferred out of the PRT due to how biased a lot of the people in it were against Parahumans and against people who _weren't_ biased against Parahumans. At least she got respect in the Police, which was saying something.

Taking point, Murphy covered the door before carefully making his way to it and then bursting out of it, with the sergeant on his heels to point her gun in the opposite direction to him.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"OK, so no one's planning an in-person ambush, so let's see what presents they've left us." Williams said, holstering her gun and turning to the pile and whistling after a moment. "Whew. Well, well, well. Someone took out the trash. These guys are wearing Merchant colours…plus, they stink and everything."

"I can smell them from here." Murphy agreed as he came over to inspect the pile. Why people did drugs was beyond him; the pile of a dozen Merchants was enough to convince anyone that drugs were A Bad Idea. "Is that…a note?"

"Yup. Written with pencils and a ruler as well." Williams agreed. "' _To the Officers of the BBPD. A dozen Merchants guilty of attempting to commit arson on Marvel Universe, as well as possession of firearms without a permit, possession of illegal substances, carrying concealed without a permit and of toxic hygiene. With Best Regards, Heroman and Heroine, new Independent heroes of Brockton Bay._ '"

"I think that last one isn't a crime." Murphy had to point out, restraining his impulse to laugh.

"The rest is though, and I can see the drugs and guns from here." Williams bared a predatory grin. "Get back in the station and grab some help. Looks like the cells are gonna be occupied for a while. Also, get a patrol car to pass by that place that the note mentioned and see if it isn't just selling us a fairy tale."

"On it." Murphy headed back in with a smile on his face. ' _Heroman and Heroine, huh? I'll have to keep an eye on them._ '

 _The Next Day_

 _Kitchen, Hebert Home_

"Some Merchants apparently tried to burn down Stan's store down last night." Danny said as he read the morning paper. His daughter say opposite him

"Oh?" Taylor said with a blink. "I see you said 'tried' so someone stopped them. Who was it? Glory Girl?"

"No, a new Independent duo." The man replied. "Called 'Heroman' and 'Heroine', according to the BBPD."

"Shouldn't the PRT be the ones talking about them considering they're Capes?" Taylor pointed out, rightly.

"Evidently, the BBPD didn't inform the PRT until _after_ they talked to the papers." Danny replied with a chortle. "I can imagine they aren't terribly happy about that."

 _Same Time_

 _Director Piggot's Office, PRT Building_

"Captain, can you kindly tell me why the Parahuman Response Team was not informed at once that a Parahuman incident had occurred _before I had to read about it in this morning's paper_?" Emily Piggot (pronounced Pig-oh, thank you very much) asked icily of the Station Captain of Central Precinct House, to whom she was on the phone with.

" _Insufficient evidence._ " The man replied firmly. " _Someone can claim to be a Cape via a note all they want, but all we had was a note, a pile of unconscious Merchants, a shadowy figure and evidence of a big shootout. Until the Merchants recovered their wits this morning, we had no proof that anyone but a normal human had anything to do with the situation._ "

Controlling her temper with mighty effort, the Director of the PRT ENE ground out, "And once a determination was made as to whether a Parahuman-related incident had occurred, your officers should have _immediately_ passed the case off to the PRT, _not_ informed the papers!"

" _A new cop was unaware of the procedures and informed an inquisitive reported of the pertinent details without consultation with higher authorities._ " The response was immediate. "He has been disciplined and this should not happen again."

He did not, she noted sourly, apologise to her for it happening.

"See that it does not." She said frostily. "Is the information packet you have sent everything that you have?"

" _Yes Director. Although that just amounts to a forensic examination of the scene found near the store Marvel Universe and a small possible and vague description of the person who dropped the Merchants off at the station._ " The Captain replied.

"And the note?" Piggot asked coldly. "What about the testimonies of the Merchants?"

" _It was written with a cheap biro, on notepad paper available for fifty cents in a store and using a ruler to prevent handwriting analysis._ " The man replied flatly. " _We also dusted it for prints and it was wiped clean. No use. The Merchants were all out of their mind on a drug that seems to be a mix of heroine, cannabis and some Tinkertech additive our lab boys couldn't identify. Looking up the database shows that similar drugs have hallucinogenic properties as well as a negative effect on short term memory. None of them could remember anything past six PM yesterday. I'll forward the transcripts of our interviews with them, for all the good it'll do you._ "

"Please do." The Director said firmly. "Good day, Captain."

Placing the handset down on its cradle harder than she normally would have, the former PRT line-grunt growled. The man had practically broadcast that he was obstructing and obfuscating on behalf of his officers during the phone call. Not to mention for 'Heroman' and 'Heroine', whoever they were.

The PRT and Protectorate had absolute jurisdiction over any and all Parahuman crimes and incidents, including statements to the press. That was one manner in which they pressured Independent Capes into joining the Protectorate and Wards; they would receive as small amount of recognition as she could swing, rendering their heroics for the purposes of fame gathering useless.

She much preferred focusing the attention of the press on the actions of the PRT. Ever since Ellisburg, Emily Piggot had not trusted Parahumans of any flavor and had sworn not to place herself at the mercy of one unless it was life threatening.

Having sufficiently calmed down, she then summoned Armsmaster and Miss Militia. It took them only a short time to arrive as they had been on their way anyway.

"Director." Armsmaster nodded firmly to her as he entered, with Miss Militia merely nodding in greeting.

"Armsmaster. Miss Militia." Piggot nodded back. "As you might imagine, this situation with the Marvel Universe incident is…undesired."

Understatement, but it got the idea across as Armsmaster's mouth tightened.

"Yes. I've had a look at the police ballistics report on the bullets collected from the street." He said. "Whatever they were fired at did not simply bounce them as you may expect; it was solid enough to distort them and, in the case of a few, pancake them."

"Any residue on them of whatever armour or substance repelled them?" the Director asked and glowered at the headshake indicating a negative.

"Whatever they struck evidently was solid enough that the bullets were insufficient in force and penetrative power to so much as chip, fragment or otherwise disturb their surface enough to get any trace residue from." The Tinker replied. "I will be going to the police station to confiscate the bullets collected to run my own analysis on them, but the police were fairly thorough, so I'm unlikely to glean anything about them."

"I see." Piggot said. "So then. We have a dozen Merchants who attempted to burn down a store who ended up being beaten unconscious. We know that the ones responsible were capable of bouncing bullets, suggesting that one or both of them were Brutes or Shakers. We have a bare-bones description of a 'big humanoid built like a tank' from one of the police and we have two names, Heroman and Heroine. That is ALL we know about them. The fact that the police have seemingly gone out of their way to announce to the entire Bay that a new Independent Duo is around does not make this any better."

"The defensive ability of one of the two would suggest either Brute 5 or Shaker 5 at least." Miss Militia put forward. "The injuries suffered by the Merchants were light, but support the supposition that this is either a Armor Brute or a Shield Brute…if it is a Brute at all."

Armor Brutes and Shield Brutes were uncommon types of Brutes who had powers primarily designed at being defensive at the cost of offensive strength. The types of powers they had were very much obvious from their names; Armour Brutes had some kind of organic armour that protected them from damage, while Shield Brutes had a durable forcefield that protected them.

"So Brute or Shaker 5, fine." Piggot tapped one finger on the desk. "Put two points in all other categories to cover our bases in regards to Heroman and Heroine. Have all Protectorate and Wards keep an eye out for any unknown Parahumans around the city while on patrol. I'll be giving the same orders to the PRT patrols."

"We don't cover a large portion of the city, Director." Armsmaster pointed out. "It would be entirely too likely that they could avoid us unintentionally because they operate where we and New Wave do not."

Piggot felt like tearing chunks out of her hair. That was what pissed her off more than almost _anything_ else, except perhaps Assault and Clockblocker in the same room as one another without someone to keep them away from one another. A city like Brockton Bay, with more villains than any other city on the east coast, should have _three times_ the Protectorate members that they had and the PRT should be half again as big as it currently was. Instead they had Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, Triumph, Velocity and Dauntless. Seven Protectorate members rather than the twenty-odd that they should have and the PRT had to fight to maintain its current size.

The Wards were also deployed in the Broadwalk to deal with petty crime, allowing the main Protectorate to deal with more serious crimes. In any other city, that would be unthinkable.

Piggot also had to deal with the husk of New Wave, which had floundered for years since the murder of one of their members out of costume. Of the roster of the former Brockton Bay Brigade, only Panacea and Glory Girl were truly 'active' these days and Panacea was not a combat Cape, so that left the so-called 'Collateral Damage Barbie' as the one bearing the weight of almost her entire team.

"I also believe that the BBPD are going to be politely obstructive about these two as well." She said at last. "So information sources from them about these two are going to be bare bones and unimaginative at best. At worst, they may stonewall us regarding them as it being none of their business regarding the actions of Parahumans, which are under the jurisdiction of the PRT."

"You think they would do that?" Armsmaster asked, surprise coloring his tone.

"How many Independent heroes actually deliver criminals to a precinct house, with information about crime scenes?" Piggot asked rhetorically. "None, aside from these two. The BBPD has been ineffective due to the sheer number of Parahuman villains in the Bay, but ineffective does not _equal_ unwilling. I've…I've been guilty of being very _firm_ with them regarding jurisdiction and that has not helped matters. If we push regarding Heroman and Heroine, we may risk a complete break in cooperation with at least one precinct of the BBPD, perhaps more."

"I'm certain they would carry out their duties." Miss Militia said thoughtfully. "But the cooperation would be begrudging, you are right."

"Right. So, we get these two on board as affiliates, if nothing else, and mend fences." Piggot said firmly. "We already have enough trouble holding our own against the villains; to do so with the police engaging in passive-aggressive apathy regarding us would make that situation untenable. Fix this. You are dismissed."

Once the pair left, Emily cradled her head in her hands. Brockton Bay was a volatile powder keg waiting for one errant spark to set off a chain reaction and blow it up into a full-on gang war. She had a very, very bad feeling that there were two sparks and they were called Heroman and Heroine. It was now a race to see if the PRT and Protectorate could stop the explosion or if the Bay would go up in flames.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind." An old voice said, making Piggot snap her head up. Standing near to the wall was an old man wearing a blue, white and red costume, with a heater shield bearing the American flag on one arm. His mask had some sort of power field around it, obscuring his head. She knew that it was proof against even Tinkertech instruments and cameras because she recognised this man.

"King Marvel." she acknowledged. "I thought you were a New York hero? And I was under the impression that you retired a decade ago?"

King Marvel had been one of the more famous Independent heroes in America, attributed the same kind of status as the Triumvirate. His powers were varied, veering between the Alexandria type to Blaster, Changer, Brute and almost every category aside from Tinker, leading most to believe that his true power was something similar to Eidolon's own.

"Eh, New York doesn't need me with Kid Laser over there." King Marvel shrugged easily. Emily blinked as she realised that he was referring to Legend with that remark. "As for my retirement…there's plenty of life in these old bones yet. This place needs all the help it can get. So then, true believer…what are you planning on doing about Heroman and Heroine?"

 **A good little addition here to my collection of ficlets. All hail Stan Lee, RIP man.**

 **Taylor's Powers:**

 **Mover: 5 (Taylor is able to accelerate fast enough to be seen as a blur to the naked eye)**

 **Master/Shaker/Trump: 8 (Is able to deploy a dome or orb-shaped shield to protect herself and others. Is able to deploy, repair and empower Heroman, with more powers becoming unlocked as she gains experience.)**

 **Heroman's Powers:**

 **Brute: 7 (Is incredibly strong and durable. Almost completely immune to conventional munitions.)**

 **Breaker: 6 (Is able to enlarge himself to the height of a ten story building. Brute Rating upped to 12 in this state.)**

 **Blaster: 5 (Is able to fire blasts of electricity from his hands. Is able to fire an O-shaped laser from his body.)**

 **Shaker: 3 (Is able to use his electrical abilities to attract specific metallic items within a certain distance of himself using electromagnetism.)**

 **Trump: 4 (is able to enhance his body's condition using electricity, raising his Brute rating by one-to-two points.)**

 **Mover: 2 (Is able to move much faster and more agilely than his bulk would suggest. Is able to leap houses in a single bound.)**


	117. She's a Hero Chapter 3

**She's the Hero Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 91)**

 _The Next Day_

 _Living Room, Barnes Residence_

"Dad, I don't _want_ to see a shrink!" Emma protested. "I'm not _weak_ like that!"

Alan ground his teeth together. "Emma, the very fact that you _believe_ that sort of thing is grounds to see a psychiatrist."

He hadn't wanted to believe it. He _still didn't_ , but…the evidence was in front of him and he couldn't avert his eyes from it, no matter how much he may want to. Emma had _changed_ , drastically, _right_ under his nose and he hadn't seen it. No…he hadn't _wanted_ to see it. He'd wanted to believe that she was the same as before the…incident.

But she wasn't. Alan _knew_ Danny and Taylor. They wouldn't lie to him about something like this. What Emma had said and done to Taylor after she'd come back from Summer Camp…that had been over the line. Had he heard of it, he would have _done_ something…which is why Emma had made certain that he _hadn't_ heard about it.

Until now.

"Alan…is this necessary?" Zoe asked gently after Emma stormed off to her room after more minutes of fruitless arguing.

"It is, dear." The lawyer sighed tiredly. "I wish to heaven that it weren't, but it is. Our daughter is wounded, psychologically. I described her attitude and lifestyle change to a psychologist I know and he agrees with Danny and Taylor; she needs help."

" _Damn_ those ABB bastards." His wife said in a trembling voice. He hugged her as she started to cry. He'd kept what had happened to Emma a secret from her until recently, which hadn't pleased her any. She had put it aside when she had heard the helpless anger in her husband's voice as he had recounted what he and their daughter had been through.

"We'll get through this, Zoe." He whispered. "Now that we know something's wrong, we can fix it. If I have to spend every dime that I have, I will. I'll have the best people look at Emma and _help_ her."

 _Later_

 _Storeroom, Marvel Universe_

"Stan, what's with all this stuff?" Taylor asked as she gestured at the two cardboard boxes in front of her.

"Ah, that's a bunch of old stuff I had at my store in New York." Stan answered. "Old costumes and the like. It's gonna be Halloween soon, right? Thought you'd like to grab a costume or two for free."

Taylor suppressed a fist-pump. She'd been looking for something other than a black burglar-like outfit for her costume and this was almost perfect. "Sure. What's in this lot?"

"Some generic girl's superhero costumes." The store owner replied. "They're from a few old heroes, both Indie and Protectorate, so you have plenty of choice. Should be a helmet in there too. I don't need the thing, and you're a clever girl, so you should be able to make something of it."

The brunette pushed her glasses up with one finger, a smirk on her face. "Oh, I think I can, Stan."

 _Later_

 _Taylor's Room, Hebert Home_

Taylor looked the costumes scattered around her from her place in front of the positively ancient computer her Mom had gotten her. She'd spent a couple of hours trawling the Protectorate's website, as well as a few dedicated fan sites, in order to assemble an idea of which costumes she had available and of whom.

On the side of the Protectorate, there was Liberty Belle, who had worn a plain blue leotard with a simplified version of the actual Liberty Bell (including the crack) in the center of her chest and a domino mask; Lady Liberty, who had worn a green toga and headdress similar to the Statue of Liberty; Torchbearer, who had worn a rippling white and red costume; and Stripes, who had been part of a duo-name with someone called Stars. She had worn a red, white and blue striped costume.

For the Independents, there was Laser Lass, a British immigrant, who had worn a costume similar to Glory Girl's own, except she had worn a helmet that concealed her entire head and face; Canoness, who had worn a pure white shift and half-face mask; Golden Eagle, who had worn a golden costume when not Changed into a giant bird similar to her namesake; and Brigandine, who had dressed in metal armour that she had produced weapons from.

All of them had died in various Endbringer attacks ranging from 1993 to 2000, so they were fairly unknown to most people in 2011; eleven years was a long time when dealing with Capes, after all.

Still, she didn't want anyone to accuse her of outright plagiarism, so she was pretty glad she was OK at sewing. In trying to save money, she had taken to darning their socks when holes developed in them, which was coming back to help her now. Looking at Laser Lass' helmet, which was white with a mirrored visor over the eyes and covered the nose and mouth completely with a face shield, Taylor grinned.

"I think I can make this work."

First things first, she chose a costume for Halloween, going with Liberty Belle's outfit. From the photos she'd seen online, the heroine had been of a similar build to Taylor, so that would look more authentic.

As for her hero outfit, the helmet was a given, as she had no intentions of showing her face to all and sundry. The added protection it would give her was a bonus as well. As to the rest of it…well, there were dribs and drabs that she could use from the other costumes, but she wanted her own costume, not just a kludge of other people's costumes.

It all just needed a little bit of…accessorizing…

 _Three Days Later_

 _Docks Area, Brockton Bay_

Heroine stood next to Heroman atop a roof, overlooking a gathering of Empire 88 thugs. Her costume was now finalized and this was the first outing she was taking in it.

The previously cream-coloured helmet was now covered in alternating red, white and blue stripes and Stan had somehow gotten his hands on an underlay for the goggles that corrected her vision exactly like her glasses did. How she didn't know, but she just put it down to the contacts he had built up over his life, including Tinkers he knew. He'd once met a good number of heroes, both current and former. His office had plenty of photos of him shaking hands with them.

She wore the red and white shirt and trousers of Torchbearer, but she also had a sheepskin flight jacket over her torso, devoid of any patches but the Stars and Stripes on the arms, as well as a pair of thigh-high heelless boots. Both were courtesy of Marvel Universe's clothing section and boy, was she glad about the employee discount.

The new hero was peering over the edge of the roof at the mob of skinheads beneath her. The Empire did this kind of bullshit every so often; a rally-cum-initiation ceremony, where new recruits got up on stage in front of a crowd and beat the shit out of a racial minority that they disapproved of. Judging from the ten terrified men and women on stage, Heroine saw that the skinheads had captured a mix of Asian and black people this time around.

Shaking her head at the stupidity of racist beliefs, Heroine crawled backwards and looked up at Heroman, who was hiding behind the water tower.

"Looks like there's no sign of any Capes." She told him. "Keep an eye out for anyone that's wearing a mask though."

The transforming Heybo nodded back at her silently.

"OK then." She breathed in and then out. "We go in as soon as the skinheads throw the first punch. Legal justification and everything."

Independents had been infamously hounded by the Protectorate into joining them, citing vigilante acts, before a rally led by several prominent Independents, including King Marvel, Anansi and Silver Valkyrie, in Washington DC of every Independent hero in America had led the government to passing the Vigilante Protection and Guidance Act.

The VPGA clearly stated and outlined the limits of the authority of an Independent/Rogue Cape, with those affiliated with the PRT and Protectorate enjoying more leeway in their actions than they would otherwise. It also stated what they could take from their defeated enemies, under the Spoils of Victory and Vigilante Subsidizing sections.

In this instance, although Heroine was 100% certain that those poor people on stage were not there voluntarily, she still couldn't act under the strictures of the VPGA. Only once some skinhead-wannabe stepped up and started beating on them could she and Heroman beat the snot out of the Nazi scumbags.

It sucked but, hey, such was the life of an Indie Cape.

As the apparent leader of the rally, some blond-haired, blue eyed guy got up on stage and started giving a speech, Heroine tuned him out. Blah-blah, lesser races, blah-blah, superior Aryans, blah-blah, put the animals in their places…if you've heard one racist speech, you've pretty much heard them all.

When the first kid came up and started pummeling a hostage though, _that_ was her cue to act.

"Go for the hostages first; save them!" she ordered her guardian. "Heroman, **[GO]!** "

With a shout, Heroman leapt into the air and landed on the stage with a mighty crash, absently swatting the wannabe E88 thug on stage as the dust cleared. He gathered up the hostages in his arms, slinging some over his shoulders as well before leaping back onto the roof where Heroine awaited him. His cargo delivered, Heroman nodded at his master before leaping down to lay a Beatdown on the fifty-plus Nazis gathered below.

"Don't worry, you're all safe now." Heroine told the terrified people as she cut them free of their bonds. "Stay up here where it's safe and keep your heads down. Once I give the signal that the coast is clear, come down."

"Thank you…thank you…" the man who had been hit said in a trembling voice.

"I'm a hero; it's in the job description." She said lightly before she triggered the new power that her gauntlet had given her. She'd only discovered it the previous day when she'd run Heroman through an obstacle course in an abandoned warehouse and almost been crushed by a falling girder.

With a blue glow from her gauntlet's screen, she exploded into a burst of superspeed, racing down the side of the building and into the massed melee between Heroman and the Empire forces. She slammed her gauntlet into one man's gut before leaping over him and slamming it into the guts of another one.

The superspeed that she was granted was awesome, but that wasn't everything she got. Included in the package were enhanced reflexes and a mental speed boost, as best as she could reckon it. Despite the fact she could move really, really fast, everything around her seemed to move so, so slowly that it was like they were moving through molasses. It was a pretty cool power.

Between her and Heroman, the majority of the skinheads were incapacitated in less than five minutes, and things looked as if they were going well.

Then a whole horde of Empire thugs turned up, armed to the teeth with assault rifles and with Hookwolf at the head of their group.

"So, these race traitors are the ones that decided to crash our rally." The topless man growled, his voice slightly muffled from the metallic mask he wore. "A freak and a brat. To think that these idiots fell to you…"

Before Heroine could respond something sped out of the night and started bouncing off of the heads of the Nazi footsoldiers, dropping them like flies. Once about ten of them were down, it flew back to be caught by someone standing atop a nearby roof.

"Who dares?!" Hookwolf roared.

"Jeez, Nazis these days are kinda loud, ain't they kid?" the man dressed in a blue costume said as he readied his shield for use. This was someone she had come across a lot in her research over the last few days, so Heroine recognised him instantly.

"King Marvel!" she breathed in shock.

"Glad someone still remembers me." The old Independent said before jumping down to land neatly next to her. "Sorry for gatecrashing your party, but I figured you could use a hand dealing with this many skinhead stooges. I think the big guy here can handle the tin puppy over there."

Nodding to indicate a thoroughly enraged Hookwolf, King Marvel smirked at her. "Think you can handle it?"

"S-Sure." She stuttered before getting her head back in the game as Hookwolf let out a roar of rage and charged forwards, transforming into his preferred form of a large metallic wolf covered in hooks, blades and other implements of death.

"Heroman, **[Engage]!** " she shouted. With a shout, the red, white and blue giant counter-charged Hookwolf, slamming a single fist into him that forced the Empire Cape back, even as the countless blades scraped uselessly across Heroman's armor.

"Holy…! That's _definitely_ fuckin' King Marvel!" one Empire grunt swore in disbelief. "He was already an old codger when he got his powers, so he has to be ancient by this point! How the hell is he still active?!"

"Clean living, frequent exercise and beating down boneheaded whippersnappers like you." King Marvel answered before hurling his shield at the mouthy grunt, knocking him for six even as the rebound sent the shield spinning back to be caught easily by the old Cape. "Seriously, fascists like you idiots are what this country fought against over seventy years ago. I fought the Nazi regime then and I'll be _damned_ if I'll let that evil take root here. Consider this war declared on the Empire 88!"

With that, the old Cape charged into the mass of panicking skinheads with the vigor of someone sixty years younger, laying them out with his fists even as they tried in vain to draw a bead on him. The few who managed to get of a shot found their bullets being bounced harmlessly into the air by his shield.

"And that's all she wrote." King Marvel commented as the last ten skinheads fell to a well-placed shield throw. They had stayed well away from one another, but he had solved that little problem by redirecting his shield off the walls. Catching his shield, he placed it back on his arm as he muttered, "Another intervention on the misguided youth of today, courtesy of the King of Cameos. Let's see how the kid's doing, shall we?"

Over with Hookwolf, he had been pummeled by Heroman for a good five minutes now. As slow and feral as he might be, he had drawn a conclusion during that time.

"So this big man is just a fucking puppet, with **you** pulling the strings!" he snarled at Heroine. "Well that makes it easier! Kill the puppet _master_ and the _puppet_ will **fall**!"

He hurled himself at Heroine, who zipped out of the way with her superspeed. When she came to a stop, she noticed a new symbol appearing out of the ring of light on the screen of her gauntlet. It was of a large fist grabbing a lightning bolt.

"Oh yeah." Heroine smirked beneath her mask as she raised her hand and brought it down flat on the screen. "Heroman, **[Blast]!** "

With a roar, a corona of blue electricity burst from the back of Heroman's head and ran down the two lines vertically crossing his eyes, as well as projecting two blades from the H-shaped gaps on his shoulder armor. With another wordless shout, the giant leapt forwards and clenched his fist, coating it in electrical power before slamming it into Hookwolf, who had just turned around and pounced at Heroine.

Metal buckled, bent and distorted almost in slow motion as Heroman's blow sank into Hookwolf. Arcs of electricity lashed out and struck a couple of goons, who screamed in pain, but weren't hurt beyond a mild tingle.

Then, with the force of a cannon, Hookwolf was sent flying into a wall, going straight through it, through the other wall of the warehouse and out onto the street on the other side. He slowly reverted back to his human form, utterly unconscious.

"Whew." Heroine sighed as Heroman's **[Blast]** ran out, cutting out the corona that had surrounded him. "Well, that went well."

"Not bad kid." King Marvel said as he stepped up to her. "A bit rough here and there, but that's to be expected when you're fresh to your powers. I remember all the goofy mistakes I used to make back in the day. It was like I was getting punked by my powers…jeez, that _sucked_."

"Thanks for stepping in." the new hero said with an embarrassed nod. "Things might've gotten dangerous if I'd fought Hookwolf and his grunts at the same time."

"No problem. Always good to see new heroes around." The veteran hero said with a laugh. "Heaven knows this place needs it. Do you have a cell phone to call this in?"

"Argh, _knew_ I forgot something." Heroine facepalmed in irritation.

"Grab the cash from these idiots and get one." King Marvel said as he pulled one from his utility belt. "In fact, get a couple dozen burner phones. The one and done prepaid kind. Until you can get a Tinker to set you up with one that can't be tracked or hacked, that's your best bet."

"Right…thanks." Heroine nodded and then began going through the pockets of the comatose skinheads before remembering the former hostages. "You're clear to come down now!"

The former hostages, looking disbelieving, made their way down as King Marvel called in the incident to the police and PRT, with a bit of a wait between calls.

"Y-You…you took down over _eighty_ skinheads." One man said in disbelief. "A-And Hookwolf as well!"

"King Marvel took care of a lot of the skinheads." Heroine corrected him as she removed the cash from the wallet of an E88 guy. "And it was Heroman who took out Hookwolf."

"Yeah, but _you_ control Heroman. _You_ came for us when we thought our days were numbered." A petite Asian woman said warmly. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"All in a night's work, ma'am." Heroine replied with a bob of her head, a blush tinting her cheeks beneath her helmet. "You might all look into taking some self-defense lessons after this though."

"Agreed." One, rather angry, looking man said. "If it weren't for the fact I don't want to put myself on their level, I'd be taking a bit of _payback_ right about now…"

He glowered at the skinheads meaningfully.

"That just proves you're a good person. Besides, it'd harm your chances of testifying against these hoodlums and getting 'em into prison, where they belong." King Marvel stated as he slid his cell phone back into his belt. "The cops'll be here in another five minutes. The PRT shortly after that. You wanna stick around? If ya want to avoid having them ask questions about your large friend there, the latter's the best choice."

Heroine hesitated. "Um…which would you prefer?"

"Honestly, I'd like to see you get your own credit for this." The old Cape stated. "I was only helping out; you're the one who saved these people."

Heroman, who had been carrying the men of the E88 and dumping them into a single pile, with their armaments in a separate pile a distance away, turned and nodded at her.

"OK…I'll stick around." She decided. Putting off the inevitable would benefit no one. She'd have to face the police and PRT face to face (so to speak) at some point, so getting the first contact over and done with, while she had a veteran hero to support her, was a good idea.

The fuss and feathers was intimidating at first, but with Heroman looming protectively over her, the PRT officers who came up to her behaved themselves. The scene of so many E88 gang members being taken into custody was very refreshing for the new hero to watch. Seeing Hookwolf being loaded into a PRT van after being covered in a large amount of containment foam was even more so.

"Looks like our job's done for the moment, kid." King Marvel said once the van carrying the Nazi Cape drove off. "We'd better get gone before we get inundated with offers to join the Protectorate."

"Is that a bad thing?" Heroine asked with a small frown.

"A Ward, which you'd be, is about as effective as a snowball in the Sahara as a crime fighter." The older hero replied seriously. "Publicity patrols, photoshoots and very little in the way of actual crime fighting, which I doubt you guys want. As for _me_ …they'd use me as a figurehead and a lure for other Independents to join the Protectorate and Wards. I'd pretty much be a geriatric version of a Ward 'out of concern for my age' or some twaddle."

"Yikes…point taken." Heroine shuddered. That sounded bad to her. She wanted to be out doing things, not parade around in a glorified dog and pony show!

While the PRT would have liked them to stick around after giving their statements, there wasn't much they could do to stop Heroman from picking Heroine up and leaping away. Nor could they stop King Marvel from turning invisible and escaping that way. So when Armsmaster turned up, he was most frustrated by the situation.

Several blocks away, King marvel reappeared in front of Heroine. "Looks like we gave 'em the slip kid."

"Yeah. Thanks again for your help." She said.

"Like I said, no problem." The older man waved a hand lazily. "Look…you're new at this whole hero thing, so how's about I teach you some hand-to-hand stuff? You just lashed out with that gauntlet of yours, which is OK considering you were up against low-end thugs, but eventually you're going to face tougher enemies, and Heroman is slow enough that he isn't always gonna be able to protect you, especially if he's fighting someone strong enough to hold him in place, like Lung or the Fenja/Menja twins."

The offer surprised Heroine, but she was glad of it. There was something that she had to know first though. "Why are you helping me so much?"

King Marvel smiled at me. "Because of a buncha reasons. First, I don't want to see you get hurt if I can do something to possibly prevent it. Second, it's the right thing to do. Third…well, someone once asked me if I thought that one person could make any difference in the world. I said that I did. That was just before I led the Independents on the march to Washington. In any given place, I believe that the actions of a single person can make all the difference in the world. Standing against crime, against discrimination, against racism…against every bad aspect that humanity has, it sometimes falls to the actions of a single person to be the catalyst that sparks change for the better. I believe that with everything I am, and I believe that your actions could benefit Brockton Bay, and more besides, for the better. So, what do you say?"

"I accept." She said instantly. "Um…who was it that asked you that, by the way?"

King Marvel snorted. "A very annoying woman with a fetish for fedora hats and being a smug pain in the ass. Anyway, I know where you train yourself and Heroman here, so let's meet there in two days' time, OK?"

"OK!" Heroine nodded eagerly, unseeing of the fedora-wearing woman looking around the nearby corner, glaring at King Marvel before walking off with a muttered, "Not HIM again…"

 **And the plot thickens…^_^**

 **Powers revealed this chapter: Gauntlet Speed Boost (I'm honestly not sure if this is accomplished in a way similar to Unruly A's Lightning Chakra Mode, using electricity to stimulate the muscles and nerves to increase the strength of the muscles and the reaction time of the nerves, or if it's some sort of time acceleration. In the anime, it looks like the latter but it's more likely to be the former.)**

 **Heroman: [Engage/Go]: The activation/attack order.**

 **Heroman: [Blast]: Empowers Heroman with electricity. As an addition to the power assessment last chapter, the lightning he coats himself in while this mode is active adds Striker: 3 to his rating.**


End file.
